The Prime Minister has completed his latest reshuffle, likely his last one before the 2015 General Election. It is unclear to me, at this point, what this represents in terms of the long game for the Coalition. Is Mr Cameron really a man of piecemeal moves and appointments to make his cabinet and ministerial teams less male and pale or is this substantial shift right the beginning of an Election campaign predicated on a basic message that says: "Sorry Tory grassroots, I've been trying to be a Conservative but those nasty Liberals have made me do lots of things I didn't want to do!" The next few months will be telling on this point.
I want to focus on two Cabinet positions that invariably draw my interest, Education and the Foreign Office. As a prospective teacher I am somewhat gladdened by the departure of Mr Gove from the DfE; like a child forever disobeying the "don't touch" instructions of a parent whilst out shopping, much to the ire of shop managers, Michael Gove has spent most of the last 4 years doing things teaching experts thought he really ought not to be doing, but he has finally been taken out of the shop and whisked off home with a quick supper and an early bedtime! As was aptly pointed out to me yesterday, it may already be the case that Mr Gove has worked his curse and his demotion may not ease the lives of teachers up and down Britain. Let us hope, however, that Nicky Morgan brings a fresh pair of eyes and ears to the job that makes her approach far more pragmatic than her predecessor. We can live in earnest hope.
While the above change was a cause for some relief, one change that truly disappointed me was the changing of the guard at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. Despite his anti-European origins and his right-leaning tendencies of previous years, 4 years at the FCO has shown William Hague to be, possibly, the most competent of Cameron's Tory cabinet members and a very adept diplomat. Northern persiflage has been well-received around the globe and Mr Hague has applied British efforts in many fields of worthiness, including his most recent campaign to end the use of sexual violence in conflict with the help of one Angelina Jolie. Relative crisis was averted in Libya, opposition to Russian neo-autocracy in Ukraine was clear and the "Special Relationship" with America is still strong, all under the (perhaps surprisingly) safe guardianship of William Hague. In the grand scheme of British politics, perhaps the most valuable task Mr Hague has done is facilitated the expansion of Britain's field of vision, opening up to China, India and the economically-emergent South American nations that will be vital to long-term prosperity around the globe.
With this all in mind, why then has Mr D Cameron of Whitney, Oxfordshire, decided to replace the soon-to-stand-down Mr Hague with Philip Hammond, stereotypical "Arch-Tory" and ally of the Home Secretary. The ex-Defence Secretary (and before that ex-Transport Secretary) has little, if not no, sympathy with dealing with climate change, has questionable views on civil liberties including opposition to Same-Sex marriage and seems to have a quiet and contained personality that does not seem suited to the post of chief diplomat of the United Kingdom. Some of our best Foreign Secretaries have been loud and rambunctious (like Ernest Bevin) or at least unafraid to make there views about those whom they have to deal with known (like Anthony Eden's view of the Italian Fascists as "Gangsters"). Mr Hammond's approach to politics need to evolve considerably past his calm and quiet demeanour for him to remotely live up to Mr Hague's legacy. This is of course notwithstanding Philip Hammond's anti-Europeanism which will hopefully all but disappear as Mr Hague's did.
In summary then, there was one piece of good news in Cameron's reshuffle, even if we could be getting our hopes up too high. However, the overall tone of these new appointments is half pre-election panic to make the top table look more real and half attempt to move the Conservative position rightwards, away from the existing Coalition position which too-close-for-Tory-comfort to our Liberal Democrat mantra. I don't think the first element is going to necessarily work and I have very little problem with the second element. If David Cameron wants to start shying away from the achievements of this coalition, let him; we are proud of what we have managed to achieve and we will take the credit for doing so.
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