Jobs for the boys
25 Jun 2007 - JG
Gordon Brown has entered the home straight to finally achieving the position he thought would have been his a long time ago. Yesterday he was officially declared Labour party leader valiantly defeating all his rivals in a close run contest with a field of the highest calibre. In two days time the dour Scot will finally become our first unelected leader since John Major in 1990. Prime Minister Brown arrives on a ticket to sort out the NHS and the housing "crisis" (and as such sees it worthy of a representative in the cabinet). Expect to see a few departmental changes - in particular the DTI could once again be shuffled and re-distributed. But the big question, come Wednesday, will be who gets a seat at the top table with El Gordo himself.
Harman has booked her ticket with her deputy leadership victory (I did say she was the one worth having a bet on with the longer odds…). Jack Straw will almost certainly get a promotion - though unlikely he'll want the Treasury as the de facto Chancellor is likely to be Gordon Brown whoever gets the job. Straw is more likely to get the Ministry of Justice (and de facto deputy PM) as a return to Home or Foreign secretary may not go down too well; while Darling will probably move in to No.11. I also have a suspicion Miliband will get a promotion to one of the four great offices of state along with Alan Johnson. Brown will also be handing jobs to his mates such as Timms and Balls and the other Miliband I'm sure. These positions won't be handed out so much on merit, but rather who is in the Brownite camp.
Going down are Reid, Hewitt, Falconer, Prescott, Kelly, Browne and Jowell (which reads like a list of who’s who of government cock-up merchants). Some pushed, some jumped. In terms of heavy weights, the Labour party is still blessed. However, I do fear that Gordon will be a closed shop and that he will do things his way. I also expect the new Labour project to continue with more unnecessary and draconian legislation - but only time will tell. In the mean time, see this week’s poll...