What does Cameron’s reshuffle tell us?

We learnt more details about Cameron’s ministerial team today, and his choice of personnel exposes Tory thinking in certain key policy areas. The holders of the three key jobs are unchanged with Osborne, May and Hammond remaining in post at the Treasury, Home Office and Foreign Office respectively. Jeremy Hunt remains at Health demonstrating that acting disgracefully whilst in office need not harm your career.

Surprisingly maybe to some, Iain Duncan Smith kept his job at the DWP. I would have thought the thinking there is that people already hate Duncan Smith, so why ruin someone else’s career when they can let him force through an extra £12bn in welfare cuts? Given the track record of IDS, it seems unlikely to end in anything but disaster.

Being in favour with George Osborne seems to be good for your career. Key allies Sajid Javed, Amber Rudd and Matthew Hancock all got promotions. Hancock in particular is someone with no obvious talents who was slavishly loyal throughout the last Parliament, never shy of going on TV to defend the indefensible. He seems to have got his reward.

Other appointments include John Whittingdale – a man who doesn’t think the BBC should exist – appointed as culture secretary, and Michael Gove at Justice (who surely can’t be any worse than Chris Grayling). Boris Johnson – for no good reason that I can discern – gets a seat at political cabinet whilst he tries to combine the full time job of being an MP with the full time job of being Mayor of London.

Finally, Priti Patel – one of the most free market Tories – is given the job of Employment Minister. Expect lots of talk of ‘personal responsibility’ and not much support for those out of work.

There is a remarkable stability to Cameron’s Cabinet. Most of the top jobs are still with the same people as the last Parliament. There were favours given to key allies, and the appointment of a pro-Murdoch, anti-BBC Culture Secretary speaks volumes, while we must still watch this space for the inevitable downfall of IDS at Work and Pensions.

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Last 7 Days Reading List 30/11/13

I’ve decided to do a regular Saturday post linking to some of my favourite articles or blog posts from the last 7 days. Here’s the first list:

The DWP has been in the news this week for various reasons. First up, universal credit and the IT system that is a ticking timebomb. Computer Weekly interviewed a former DWP consultant who explained the departments inability to ensure IT services are procured well:

Disaster at DWP

The DWP’s Work Capability Assessments came back under the microscope, with a number of suicides linked to the loss of benefits being highlighted in the media and on the blogosphere:

Second Suicide Linked To Welfare Reform Reported This Week: RIP Victor Cuff

Information Commissioner rules on the cover up of DWP-related deaths

Also on the DWP, disability rights campaigner Sue Marsh sets out the refusal of DWP to engage with disabled people about cuts to welfare and on the WOW petition campaign which has nearly reached 100,000 signatures:

WOW Petition – Nearly There

Moving on now from welfare reforms and on to the economy in general, which is the stated reason for welfare cuts. Lord Skidelsky wrote a very clear and accessible rebuttal against the arguments for austerity:

Four Fallacies of the Second Great Depression

In a post on ‘debt overhangs’, Bill Mitchell pours a fresh dose of scorn over Excel spreadsheet wizards Rheinhart and Rogoff:

Been searching for a public debt overhang – didn’t get far

More politics now, and I liked this post from Puffles about the difficulties political parties continue to face with how they use social media:

Do Labour party chiefs know how to use ‘priceless’ social media?

Boris Johnson made a widely criticised this week in which he informed us of his views on inequality and IQ. Hopefully a few people will have seen this and realised that maybe voting for someone because they make them laugh might not be the best idea. Two blogs from Chris Dillow on Johnson’s speech are well worth reading:

Inequality and Growth

IQ and Equality

Employment now, and this Buzzfeed article was quite good, highlighting the 9 worst unpaid internships in Britain. I think my favourite is the one at Reading Football club:

9 Of The Worst Unpaid Internships In Britain

Finally, and not related to what I normally blog about, a couple more links that caught my eye this week. First up, a nice interview with Charlie Brooke, talking about his new documentary on video games being shown tonight on Channel 4:

Charlie Brooker on why video game television is so hard to make

Lastly, footballer Ryan Giggs turned 40 this week. I’m not much of a football fan any more, but as an 8 year old boy, the year Giggs made his debut, I was a mad keen Man Utd fan. That he’s still playing at the top level (and for the same club) is an amazing achievement, and I thought this was a nice little interview with the man who first discovered Giggs:

Ryan Giggs, by the milkman who discovered him