British Prime Minister Theresa May’s long-awaited government reshuffle was on Monday branded ineffectual and shambolic after she promoted few fresh faces to her top team and a minister resigned rather than accept a new post.
British Secretary of State for Education Justine Greening became the fourth minister to leave the Cabinet since November, after resisting a request to move to the UK Department for Work and Pensions.
UK Secretary of State for Health and Social Care Jeremy Hunt convinced May at the last minute to scrap plans to move him to the UK Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, according to media reports.
Most of May’s senior ministers also kept their jobs in the reshuffle, including British Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs Boris Johnson, British Secretary of State for Exiting the EU David Davis and Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond.
May carried out what her office called a “refresh” of the government after sacking deputy British prime minister Damian Green last month in a row over pornography found on his computer in 2008.
May hoped the shakeup would help her reassert authority ahead of crunch Brexit negotiations this year, and following a torrid last year, in which she lost her parliamentary majority in a snap election in summer.
An interim deal on Brexit last month appeared to give her new impetus, and the much-anticipated reshuffle was arranged.
However, the day began in a farcical fashion when her Conservative Party announced a new chairman on Twitter, only to delete the tweet and later name another lawmaker for the post.
“No wonder Theresa May’s struggling to negotiate Brexit — she can’t even organise a reshuffle,” opposition Labour MP Stephen Kinnock swiftly tweeted.
Following Hunt’s reported refusal to move and Greening’s resignation later on Monday, British newspapers were quick to lambast May’s reboot.
The Times’ front page called the reshuffle “shambolic,” while the Daily Telegraph declared it the “night of the blunt stiletto.”
Some Conservative lawmakers appeared to agree, with Tory grandee Nicholas Soames tweeting: “I don’t mean to be rude or to be seen to be disloyal but there needs to be a major improvement to the reshuffle tomorrow.”
May was yesterday expected to announce a reshuffle of her lower government ranks.
Greening’s resignation is likely to be viewed as a challenge to the British prime minister’s already fragile authority.
“The prime minister is disappointed, but respects her decision to leave the government,” a Downing Street source said.
Greening said in a tweet that educational issues, such as social mobility, matter “more than my ministerial career,” and vowed to continue to work for young people as a member of parliament.
May’s room for manoeuvre is limited by heading a minority government and the need to maintain a delicate Cabinet balance of euroskeptic and pro-European ministers as major Brexit decisions loom.
After starting the two-year withdrawal process in March last year, Britain last month struck a deal on the financial settlement with Brussels, as well as on expatriate rights and the Irish border.
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