Blair Reshuffles His Cabinet

Prime Minister Tony Blair reshuffled his cabinet this week, and the result has many wondering whether he botched it, made a brilliant move or simply muddled through. The crux of the issue is the role of Alan Milburn, who left the cabinet 15 months ago to “spend more time with his family.” Mr. Blair has made him Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (a silly title that works out to be minister-without-portfolio), and he’ll get to write the party manifesto for the next election. This, quite unofficially, has Gordon Brown, MP, the Chancellor of the Exchequer (the man in charge of all the money) furious. He thinks he is Mr. Blair’s successor.

To understand this political drama, far better than anything the felon Lord Archer ever wrote, one must go back to the dreadful 1992 election. Neil Kinnock pulled the Labour Party to the right, making it a social democratic party rather than a socialist one, and still lost. He quit, getting a cushy job in Brussels, and left the party to the unlikely named John Smith, a fine lawyer, whiskey drinking Scot and decent human being. He died of a heart attack in 1994, and Messrs. Blair and Brown were the rivals to succeed him. At a dinner in the People’s Republic of Islington, London, Mr. Brown is alleged to have withdrawn in exchange for the job he now has and an understanding that Mr. Blair would step aside after two terms. He is currently in his third.

Of course, Mr. Blair’s appointment of Mr. Milburn to write the manifesto (a platform that actually lays out what the government will do rather than an American platform that some candidates, e.g., Bob Dole, won’t read) is a direct slap at Mr. Brown. The attempts by some to whitewash this situation are laughable. If Mr. Brown is the successor, he ought to be in charge of policy. His "key role in this general election campaign", as Mr. Milburn described what lay ahead, was a given since he runs the Treasury.

However, Mr. Milburn did not get the job he really wanted – Labour Party Chairman. That would have meant a fight with the unions, which no Labour PM should undertake a year or so ahead of a general election. Giving Mr. Milburn that much influence could have sparked an outright war with the Brown faction.

This would all just be mildly interesting gossip if it were not for the fact that there are, and always have been, policy differences between the PM and his Chancellor. The adoption of the euro to replace the pound (Mr. Brown less enthusiastic by far) and redistribution of wealth (Mr. Blair is the less excited here) are just the most obvious differences. The dust has yet to settle from the creation of New Labour, and whether it retains any of its progressive roots remains an open question. The reshuffle has merely brought the debate back out into the open.

[Editor’s Note: The restaurant where the two dined was the minimalist Granita, 127 Upper Street, Islington now the Alaturca Cafe Bistro – telephone 020.7226.3222.]



© Copyright 2004 by The Kensington Review, J. Myhre, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent.



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