The Horsell's Mouth Politics, pedantry and personal interests

The Medicine Cabinet

As the PM named his cabinet today, there are one or two surprises but also a good deal of talent that I hope will mean that this cabinet is able to heal and address the multitude of problems that we face.

The Foreign Office has been preparing for William Hague’s arrival for five years and I’m very pleased that this pleasant, intelligent, articulate and skilful man with such a mastery of politics has finally achieved an office that will do him justice. His last government post was as Welsh Secretary and since leaving the leadership in 2001, he has become one of the most significant and gentle voices in Conservatism. Immensely popular with the grass roots, he has got a significant challenge to extracate us from Afghanistan and head off Iran.

I’m delighted too that Michael Gove is Education Secretary and will get the opportunity to enact his reforms to improve standards and give more autonomy to teachers. He is a generous and thoughtful man who understands the value of education and its ability to transform lives. Iain Duncan Smith makes a very welcome return to the front line after working on policy at his Centre for Social Justice. His work on how to build a better society and his personal convictions on this subject will be an invaluable contribution.

We all thought that Ken Clarke was a successful chancellor but actually he has been a QC since 1980 and the post of Justice Secretary will allow him to take a step back from the economy for the time being. The appointments of Jeremy Hunt - who visited Woking two weeks ago and is a really nice guy as well as a great MP - and Sayeeda Warsi, who helped give Nick Griffin such a pasting on Question Time, are also reasons to be happy. I hope both will be successful and grow into even more prestigious offices in the future – but for the Lib Dem presence, undoubtedly both would have featured more prominently.

The Lib Dem presence is a positive thing. It is always difficult for the Conservatives to be representative of Scotland given we only have one MP there and Danny Alexander is rightly given the brief of Scottish Secretary. He is a skilled communicator and problem-solver who is well-placed to deal with the SNP on equal terms. David Laws, on the right of the Lib Dems, is someone who shares an economic realism that he will need as Chief Secretary - Vince Cable did well to side-step that role, which will be high-profile during the spending reviews ahead.

Chris Huhne is a principled and cerebral man who I met several years ago when he was an MEP. He will be able to argue strongly for a more sustainable future – whether he’ll be comfortable when it comes to energy policy remains to be seen. Vince Cable’s popularity will be tested as Business Secretary but his abilities are not in doubt and he has a wealth of business experience to draw on. 

I’m not happy about everything – George Osborne is still a barrier to support for many people and I believe should have been dropped as chancellor in favour of Philip Hammond. I’m not sure why Theresa May is Home Secretary and would have preferred the responsbility for women and equality to have fallen separately – perhaps to Baroness Warsi. I was never sure why Liam Fox was moved from health or why Andrew Lansley was moved into it and Caroline Spelman seems a strange choice for the environment. I regret the passing over of Nick Herbert and excellent housing spokesman Grant Shapps.

But what we have now is much better than the fag-ends of the Labour government and the pernicious influence of Mandelson and Campbell has been expunged from power. Now the work of the cabinet, which I believe is united behind its reform programme, must begin.

Update 13/5: Rightly, both Nick Herbert and Grants Shapps are now ministers according to The Times:

2.45pm The keys to the safe

Damian Green – once notoriously arrested (but not charged) on suspicion of receiving leaks from the home office – is confirmed as immigration minister. No longer any need for leaks then: he’ll be working in the home office.

And Nick Herbert will also be at the home office as the minister with responsibility for police.

Two facts about him: his middle name is Le Quesne. And he’s one of the few openly gay senior Tories.