Author Archives: Letterman

Opinion: January Reshuffle – Big Surprises and the Liberal ‘Big Beasts’ (Part II)

By Letterman | Thu 1st January 2009 - 12:20 pm

Part Two – Beyond the Big Beasts (To read Part I – Two Big Surprises – published yesterday, please click here).

Lynne Featherstone has clearly earned a promotion to shadow Ed Balls at the Department of Communities and Local Government, with her work around the ‘Baby P’ case. And David Laws would better suit a move to Energy and Climate Change, where he could make a good case for the economics of our green policies and be an effective opponent of Ed Miliband, thought by many to be the more talented Miliband brother and certainly someone to be …

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Opinion: January Reshuffle – Big Surprises and the Liberal ‘Big Beasts’ (Part I)

By Letterman | Wed 31st December 2008 - 12:50 pm

Part One – Two Big Surprises

It’s thought that Gordon Brown will have a January reshuffle in anticipation of a 2009 election. We could have a long debate about whether or not there will be an election in 2009 but, regardless, a potential election will be at the forefront of Brown’s (and Mandelson’s) mind when appointing the next batch of Ministers.

A lot has been written about a potential return to the Conservative Shadow Cabinet for one of their dwindling number of ‘big beasts’, Ken Clarke. But nothing has been written about any of the Liberal Democrats’ ‘Big Beasts’, probably because there is a false perception that we don’t have any.

I’m not going to be part of the inevitable whirl of speculation about who Brown will choose but I have a few suggestions for how the Liberal Democrats can make the most of this opportunity to bring back some of our own ‘big beasts’ to the front bench; as well as offering up some surprises for the media (something that can often be difficult with such a small pool of MPs to choose from).

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  • Tim
    @PM. Yes, allowing a LOT more houses to be built would reduce wealth inequality dramatically. We should aim to return to the c1997 price to income ratios - whic...
  • Peter Davies
    and building more houses of course....
  • Peter Davies
    The rising property market contributed more to the impoverishment of the poor than the enrichment of the rich. It is owner occupiers who hold the greatest propo...
  • PM
    @ Tim, You may be technically correct with your argument but it doesn't change the fact that we have become very much more unequal in recent decades. The ...
  • Mick Taylor
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