Renewals

Cabinet reshuffles, like that of Mr Cameron's last month, are a fact of political life. They serve as a way to reorganise, to break from certain continuities or to shed unfortunate reputations that have been accumulated.

In 2003 Mr Blair reorganised his cabinet amongst much controversy (Jones & Rozenberg, 2003). His cabinet changes reformed and watered down the the role of Lord Chancellor (Wintour & Dyer, 2003). The changes came at a time when, after the outrage sparked by protests and resignations over the Iraq War, Mr Blair's New Labour were in need of reasserting their reforming credentials.

So what are the aims behind Mr Cameron's new cabinet?

Commentators are suggesting this reshuffle is a move to, or at least a concession to, the Tory Right (Clark, 2012). Such an attempt to shore up his support may reflect the difficulties the Prime Minister has faced. His role has consisted of trying to juggle party demands past his Liberal Democrat coalition partners (Stevenson, 2012).

There is danger, though, in being drawn in too far by these reshuffles. Methods such as these - used to manage public perceptions of government action - are reflective of the unfortunate role that personality plays, ahead of reason, in the formulating and carrying out of policy (although there have been attempts to rectify this).

This amount of focus given to personality allows ministries to get rid of bad impressions with an outgoing minister, and to press on from any newly established policy plateau - all without the baggage that comes with unpopularity. In this case, the reshuffle betrays concern in Tory ranks about their chances at the next election.

Changing faces, changing personalities - these are just misdirections to ease the passage of difficult legislation. The realities are always more complicated. We must be wary not to let misdirections such as these distract us from maintaining vigilance against dangerous legislation.

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References:
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+ George Jones & Joshua Rozenberg's 'Blair casts aside legal history in radical reshuffle'; in The Telegraph; 13 June 2003.

+ Patrick Wintour & Clare Dyer's 'Blair's reforming reshuffle'; in The Guardian, 13 June 2003.

+ Tom Clark's 'Cameron's new cabinet: not just a shuffle but a great trek to the right'; in The Guardian; 4 September 2012.

+ Alex Stevenson's '"Chambermaid" Cameron told to stand up to Lib Dems'; in Politics.co.uk; 30 August 2012.