Lib Dem Voice polled our members-only forum recently to discover what Lib Dem members think of various political issues, the Coalition, and the performance of key party figures. Some 500 party members have responded, and we’re publishing the full results.
LDV asked: In the next couple of months David Cameron and Nick Clegg are likely to hold a Cabinet reshuffle. For each of the following 28 Cabinet members please say whether a) they’re doing a good job and should stay in their post, b) they could be doing a better job but should still stay in their post, c) they’re doing a poor job and should be removed from their post or d) Don’t Know/Never heard of them…?
NB: To produce the overall ‘net stay in post’ figures, below, I’ve added together the first two options (a and b above) and subtracted the third (c).
All the data is available below, but here are the key two Top 5s for those who want the quick skinny.
Top 5 cabinet members Lib Dem party members think should stay in post:
-
Vince Cable, Business, Innovation and Skills Secretary 95%
Ken Clarke, Justice Secretary 88%
William Hague, Foreign Secretary 88%
Edward Davey, Energy and Climate Change Secretary 81%
Nick Clegg, Deputy Prime Minister 66%
Lib Dem Scottish secretary Michael Moore just misses the cut, at number 6, with a net +56% of party members saying he should stay in post (just 9% thought he should be removed). Danny Alexander languishes further down the list, at 14, with a ‘net stay in post’ rating of +45% (with a significant minority of 27% Lib Dem members thinking he should be removed as Treasury Chief Secretary). Intriguingly two Tory cabinet ministers — Clarke and Hague — feature in Lib Dem members’ top 5, testament I suspect not only to how they do their job but also that, for Tories, they’ve exceeded our expectations (whereas some Lib Dem cabinet members may not have met expectations)… Oh, and it also probably reflects a fear of who else from the Tory side might get their job in the reshuffle.
Bottom 5 cabinet members Lib Dem party members think should stay in post:
-
Jeremy Hunt, Culture, Media & Sport Secretary -66%
George Osborne, Chancellor -60%
Andrew Lansley, Health Secretary -53%
Baroness Warsi, Tory Chairman -39%
Michael Gove, Education Secretary -30%
Few surprises here who props up the list of cabinetistas Lib Dem members would like to see up for the chop at the forthcoming reshuffle. Two further cabinet ministers recorded negative ‘net stay in post’ ratings: Eric Pickles (Tory communities and local government secretary) with -26%, and Theresa May (Tory home secretary) with -15%.
I’ve uploaded a GoogleDoc spreadsheet with all the data from these results, as shown below:
Here’s the full list of ‘net stay in post ratings’:
-
Vince Cable, Business, Innovation and Skills Secretary 95%
Ken Clarke, Justice Secretary 88%
William Hague, Foreign Secretary 88%
Edward Davey, Energy and Climate Change Secretary 81%
Nick Clegg, Deputy Prime Minister 66%
Michael Moore, Scottish Secretary 58%
David Cameron, Prime Minister 55%
David Willetts, Universities & Science 54%
Andrew Mitchell, International Development Secretary 53%
Iain Duncan Smith, Work & Pensions Secretary 53%
Sir George Young, Leader of the Commons 48%
Justine Greening, Transport Secretary 48%
Philip Hammond, Defence Secretary 46%
Danny Alexander, Treasury Chief Secretary 45%
Oliver Letwin, Cabinet Office 25%
Lord Strathclyde, Leader of the Lords 21%
Owen Paterson, Northern Ireland Secretary 15%
Francis Maude, Paymaster General 14%
Caroline Spelman, Environment, Food & Rural Affairs Secretary 12%
Cheryl Gillan, Welsh Secretary 7%
Patrick McCloughlin, Chief Whip 0%
Theresa May, Home Secretary -15%
Eric Pickles, Communities & Local Government Secretary -26%
Michael Gove, Education Secretary -30%
Baroness Warsi, Tory Chairman -39%
Andrew Lansley, Health Secretary -53%
George Osborne, Chancellor -60%
Jeremy Hunt, Culture, Media & Sport Secretary -66%
* Stephen was Editor (and Co-Editor) of Liberal Democrat Voice from 2007 to 2015, and writes at The Collected Stephen Tall.
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16 Comments
Top 5 cabinet members Jedibeeftrix thinks should stay in post:
William Hague, Foreign Secretary 100%
Michael Gove, Education Secretary 100%
Danny Alexander, Treasury Chief Secretary 100%
Philip Hammond, Defence Secretary 90%
Nick Clegg, Deputy Prime Minister 66%
What was Lynne Featherstone’s rating? I couldn’t seem to find it.
Until last week I would have been happy for Hague to stay but he has made a right mess of the Assange business issuing threats to go into embassy’s without thinking about the consequences. He is a British Foreign Secretary in the 2001st century not Lord Palmerston.
Getting some new blood in at the Treasury would be good for both parties in government but there is no way that Cameron will get rid of his mate Osborne.
Meg, that’s because Lynne isn’t in the Cabinet.
My bad. I thought the equalities minister was an important enough position to make it onto the Cabinet, especially since I’ve seen her on the front benches often. Apparently not, which I have to say, fills me with a sense of disappointment as I think she does a great job.
That is also one of the things Lib Dems have been criticised for – failing to get any of our women MPs into Cabinet!
It looks to me rather like those who currently work in education are underrepresented in this poll.
I know he is a smooth operator, but William Hague has done nothing to help resolve the Arab-Israeli conflict, has not stood in the way of arms sales to countries with poor human rights records like Bahrain and has kept our troops in Afghanistan serving no useful purpose whatsoever, many of them getting killed.
One of the greatest threats to the world today is nuclear proliferation but no serious attempt is being made to reduce British nuclear weapons.
For all those who think he is doing a good job, never forget he is a Tory.
“I know he is a smooth operator, but William Hague has done nothing to help resolve the Arab-Israeli conflict”
Lol. He’s good, but he’s not the Messiah!
re the deterrent:
May i direct you to page 38 of the NSS:
“As a result of our reassessment of the minimum necessary requirements for credible deterrence we will:
• reduce the number of warheads onboard each submarine from 48 to 40
• reduce our requirement for operationally available warheads from fewer than 160 to no more than 120
• reduce our overall nuclear weapon stockpile to no more than 180
• reduce the number of operational missiles on each submarine. (16 > 8)”
And so the cloak of “classical Liberalism” slips from the shoulders of JediBeeftrix to reveal the Tory Sith lerking beneath! On this scale and in this company, there is no way Clegg’s young Scottish apprentice deserves 100%!
😀
@JediBeeftrix
“Top 5 cabinet members Jedibeeftrix thinks should stay in post:
William Hague, Foreign Secretary 100%
Michael Gove, Education Secretary 100%
Danny Alexander, Treasury Chief Secretary 100%
Philip Hammond, Defence Secretary 90%
Nick Clegg, Deputy Prime Minister 66%”
On this basis can we 1) put you down for Danny Alexander to take over from Osborne in the forthcoming reshuffle and 2) that ‘forthcoming’ is so much better than the all-pervasive media-driven ‘upcoming’?
Stephen –
1. If Danny will maintain the coalition policy of bringing spending down to 40% of GDP by the end of the parliament then yes, he’d have my support. Tories will not give up the top spot however.
2. Absolutely
re:Hague, You could of course be clever, and say that having a relatively non-stupid Conservative with gaffs behind him in a job which requires a sensible brain but few policy announcements and positive press is a good thing…
why would that be particularly clever?