Brown’s New Cabinet

DfES and DTI are split
New Minister for the South West
… and… “Darling – why don’t you take over”

Gordon’s clunking fist has fallen upon a number of Cabinet positions and upon a number of Ministries, most significantly the Department for Education and Skills which has been replaced by two new ministries - the Department for Children, Schools and Families and the Department of Innovation, Universities and Skills and a new Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform will take on the business and industry remit of the disbanded DTI. Exeter MP Ben Bradshaw finds himself with a new role as Minister for the South West of England.

Funding for Schools and Colleges will now be going through LEAs – so what exactly this means for the future of LSCs we will have to wait and see, but it seems their future may be aligned more with the other new Department and its new Secretary of State (for Innovation, Universities and Skills) John Denham

More non-Labour figures are expected to be drafted as Gordon Brown finalises his front-bench team of ministers. Ex-CBI chief Sir Digby Jones is the latest outsider to be appointed - as Minister for trade promotion. The new Prime Minister will also unveil plans for constitutional reform aimed at ‘restoring trust in politics’. Ex-Labour MP Clare Short is also hinting at a return to the fold - but third placed left-wing deputy leadership contender Jon Cruddas has turned down a job offer. More announcements will follow later today.

Andy

What are the new ‘Education’ Departments?

Department of Children Schools and Families
The DCSF will coordinate work across government related to youth and family policy. The new department will take on responsibility for promoting the well-being, safety, protection and care of all young people, which includes children's social services policy. It will lead on family policy - including parenting - and, working with the Department for Work and Pensions and HM Treasury, will fix government strategy for ending child poverty. It will also be in charge of pre-19 education. Funding for 16-to-19 education will go to schools and colleges via the local authority education budget.

Department of Innovation, Universities and Skills
The DIUS will take the lead on expanding high-end graduate skills and raising the skills of the wider adult workforce. Its goal will be to make Britain "one of the best places in the world for science, research and innovation". But it will also be responsible for the "development, funding and performance" of higher education - both teaching and research - and further education. It will aim to take the skills agenda forward. The department will oversee the science budget, which will remain ring fenced, and the dual support system (university money and research funding is handled separately) will be kept. A new Office of the Chief Scientific Adviser will be created within the DIUS.

The Cabinet Changes

Key cabinet appointments include a new Chancellor in Alastair Darling and a new Foreign Secretary in David Miliband. There had been rumours that Brown would seek to combine the job of Chancellor with his new role as Prime Minister/Head Honcho/Mr Big, but common sense appears to have won out with Gordon realising there is only so much you can micro-manage at a time. Jacqui Smith becomes the first woman Home Secretary filling a John Reid shaped hole in the new Secretary of State for the Home Department.

New faces in the Cabinet included James Purnell, Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, and Ed Balls, Secretary of State for the newly created Department for Children, Schools and Families. The new Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills is to be John Denham whilst another John – this time Hutton takes over as the new Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform. Former Tory MP Shaun Woodward becomes minister for Northern Ireland – perhaps a symbol that Brown takes seriously his ideas of a Cabinet of all the talents and along the same lines - Lib Dem Baroness Williams has been asked to advise Gordon Brown on nuclear proliferation (source – the BBC).

Other significant changes include Jack Straw as a new Secretary of State for Justice, arch-Blairite Hazel Blears becomes a surprise Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government and becomes Secretary of State for Work and Pensions. Both had been expected to be shown the door following their poor showing (and somewhat lack-lustre) performances in the deputy Leadership contest. Alan Johnson, who was pipped into second place in said contest finds himself moving from Education to Health. Seemingly unpopular Communities Minister Ruth Kelly finds herself moved to a new role as seemingly unpopular Transport Minister.

Other Changes

In terms of education, one that might prove important is the newly created Business Council for Britain, which is supposed to make the most of the "significant new opportunities arising from economic globalisation". Senior figures from the business world will report to government and Parliament on the UK's progress in improving its economic and business environment. It will meet two or three times a year and will advise Mr Brown on whether government policy is helping or damaging Britain's competitiveness. Members will be available to Mr Brown to give him advice as and when needed. Early meetings should be intriguing as the panel includes Alan Sugar – who’s rather macho style has been criticised as a bad role model by non-other than new Minister for Trade Promotion - Sir Digby Jones.

Those Exciting Cabinet Changes, in one huge printer-unfriendly list:

Other appointments

Parliamentary Private Secretaries to the Prime Minister are to be:

Ian Austin MP
• Angela E Smith MP

New Privvy Councillors:

Ed Balls, Andy Burnham, Ed Miliband, James Purnell, Shaun Woodward and Sir Mark Malloch Brown KCMG (who gets a peerage). Former United Nations deputy secretary-general, Malloch Brown, has also been granted a peerage in order to take up the post of minister for Africa, Asia and the UN. He will not have Cabinet rank but will attend Cabinet meetings.

Brown’s Inner Circle

Gordon has brought a new team into Downing Street to replace Tony Blair's old inner circle. Some are already well-known faces inside the Cabinet, others will be advisers. Here are some of the names to look out for.

Ed Balls
Sometimes known as Mr Brown's representative on earth. In fact, many suspect the Normanton MP and former chief economics adviser at the Treasury actually hails from another planet altogether where his famous phrase about "post neo-classical endogenous growth theory" is actually understood. Mr Brown understood it well enough so it is no surprise the two are the closest of colleagues. Mr Balls is one of the big figures in the Brown inner circle.

Yvette Cooper
Mr Balls' wife and MP for Pontefract is a former journalist and housing minister who somehow managed to escape any consequences from the shambles surrounding the Home Information Packs policy. Another rising star who, nonetheless, many believe still needs to prove herself.

Ed Milliband
His brother David may have been the more favoured under Mr Blair and will continue his rise under the prime minister, but Ed served as Mr Brown's special adviser and is bound to flourish under his rule.

Ian Austin
Mr Austin first made a name for himself as Mr Brown's spin doctor in the wake of Charlie Whelan. He is now MP for his home town of Dudley.

Plus a huge gang of former Treasury People, namely:

Jeremy Heywood - A former Treasury man who went to work as Tony Blair's principal private secretary from 1999-2003 (although it is said Mr Brown tried to talk him out of it). He has been brought back from the City as head of domestic policy in the Cabinet Office, which means he will be Mr Brown's top policy hit man in Whitehall.
Tom Scholar - Treasury man who has become Mr Brown's all-powerful chief of staff. He was Mr Brown's principal private secretary before being seconded as the UK representative at the World Bank
Spencer Livermore - Livermore has been appointed director of political strategy, one of the key jobs in Downing Street. He joins the list of those crossing the road from the Treasury where he was a special adviser on policy.
Mike Ellam - Ellam is the prime minister's official spokesman, taking over from Tom Kelly who took over from Alastair Campbell. But forget any return to Campbell-style briefings, Mr Ellam is a civil servant through and through. It hardly needs saying he is being brought across from the Treasury.
Dan Corry - Corry has been appointed head of the Downing Street policy unit. He is an economist who has worked for both Margaret Beckett and the late John Smith.
Jon Cunliffe - Yet another Treasury man, Mr Cunliffe was head of finance regulation there but has been appointed as Mr Brown's head of international economic affairs, Europe and G8 Sherpa (the people who do the deals before the big summits). The other main foreign post goes to Simon McDonald who is head of foreign and defence policy.
Damian McBride - He was Mr Brown's spin doctor at the Treasury, having taken over from Ian Austin. He is likely to remain in the background as an adviser, briefing editors and selected journalists. It will be his behaviour, rather then Mr Ellam's, that is most likely to set the spin-or-no-spin tone of the new administration.
Shriti Vadera - One of Mr Brown's closest, most respected and, it is said, intimidating economic advisers at the Treasury. A former director of Warburg she will have huge power in ensuring the PM gets his way. She is set to be a junior minister in the international development department.
Sue Nye - been with Mr Brown since the year zero and acted as his personal adviser and gatekeeper - if you want to get to Gordon you go through her. She introduced Mr Brown to his wife, Sarah.

(With thanks to the BBC New website)

Links:

Number 10 website

Education Guardian Article

BBC News

CBI Press Release

Latest SLIM News

The SLIM-lines is made possible thanks to contributions from the Regional Development Agency and OBJECTIVE 3 (ESF) TA Publicity Fund.

SLIM is not responsible for the content, accuracy or reliability of the websites listed and does not necessarily endorse the views expressed within them. SLIM cannot guarantee that these links will work all of the time and has no control over the availability of the linked pages.