Tag Archives: cabinet reshuffle

Mathew Hulbert

Mathew on Monday: How do we up our media coverage?

By Mathew Hulbert | Mon 8th September 2025 - 5:46 pm

Switch on the news and you’d think British politics is a two or three party show… and we’re not one of those. But beyond the red and blue and now turquoise noise, we Liberal Democrats are out there shaping debates, winning councils, and fighting for fairness.

The only problem? You’d hardly know it from the coverage.

So whose fault is that?

Well, I gently suggest, it is both the media’s partly but, yes, also at least in part, our party’s. There’s no doubt that we’re not getting the coverage that the largest third force in the House of Commons deserves and I strongly suggest that editors, producers, reporters, guest bookers etc  should have a default position of seeking to book Lib Dems for all political panels, debates, and so so on.

I say ‘seeking’ because, and here’s the rub, I know at least from two national broadcast outlets, that they’ve sought to book a Lib Dem MP for a segment and been told that none is available. That might just about have been believable when we had just 8 MPs but we now have 72 and, as I said at the Social Liberal Forum Conference this Summer and to President (now also Lord) Mark Pack’s face and I think annoyance, we now have 72 MPs so there really can be no reasonable excuse for not putting someone up for interview.

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Mark Valladares

5 September 2025 – today’s press releases

By Mark Valladares | Fri 5th September 2025 - 11:55 pm
  • Lib Dems call for Farage to be put on foreign influence watchlist as party rebrands Reform HQ Trump Tower
  • Lib Dems demand Farage is dragged in front of DCMS Committee after Reform threats to national journalists
  • Davey on reshuffle: Labour “learning the wrong lessons” from calamity Conservatives
  • David Chadwick raises concerns that Welsh families are being left behind in vital childcare support

Lib Dems call for Farage to be put on foreign influence watchlist as party rebrands Reform HQ Trump Tower

  • The Lib Dems have called on Farage to officially register his ties with Donald Trump under the Foreign Influence Registration Scheme (FIRS)
  • Daisy Cooper has branded the Reform leader a “Trump puppet” following his meeting with the US President this week
  • The move comes as party lit up Reform HQ to rebrand it as Trump Tower last night

The Liberal Democrats are demanding that Nigel Farage be placed on an official foreign influence watchlist due to his ties to Donald Trump.

Liberal Democrat Deputy leader Daisy Cooper has raised Farage’s ties to Donald Trump as a potential example of foreign collusion – as her party called for the Reform leader to register himself under the Government’s Foreign Influence Registration Scheme.

The party lit up Reform HQ last night to rebrand it as ‘Trump Tower’ “to show where Farage’s loyalties really lie.”

The FIRS scheme came into force on 1 July and was set up to oversee attempts by foreign powers to influence democratic processes in the UK. It requires individuals and organisations to register any arrangements they have with foreign powers within 28 days of making them. This can include arrangements to receive payments or future favourable treatment from a foreign power. Failure to register when required under the scheme is a criminal offence.

The Liberal Democrats have said given Farage’s close personal links to Trump and his efforts to lobby the US administration he should be registered under the scheme. Farage is a long-term close personal friend of Trump and described the UK’s 2016 government as “petty” for not taking advantage of his connections to the then-president. He has since repeatedly spoken at Trump fundraisers, including most recently in March of this year.

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The Voice

UPDATED: Tory reshuffle: goodbye, Suella Braverman, hello, David Cameron?

By The Voice | Mon 13th November 2023 - 10:41 am

It’s all kicked off at Number 10, so we’ll be updating this as events unfold…

In one of the more unexpected moments of this increasingly flaky Government, Rishi Sunak has moved James Cleverly from the Foreign Office to the Home Office after just fourteen months, and replaced him with David Cameron, giving him a peerage in order to do so. It would be fair to say that the responses have been mixed…

Beth Rigby, Sky News’ Political Editor, notes:

Layla Moran has pointed out that:

Bringing back a scandal-hit, unelected former Prime Minister who has been criticising Sunak’s government at every turn has the

…

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Sunak reshuffle road to oblivion?

By Andy Boddington | Thu 9th February 2023 - 6:04 pm

It seems to be a sign of a prime minister’s prowess that new departments are created or existing departments are reshaped during their tenure. All politicians want to leave their mark but there is always a parallel agenda. Promoting loyal supporters and getting rid of those causing trouble, and of course, those who have found to have broken the rules.

The need to replace the ambitious Nadhim Zahawi came after he was sacked as Chair of the Conservative Party and Minister without Portfolio for breaching the ministerial code.  All that Rishi Sunak needed to do was to appoint a new Chair of the Conservative Party and give them a seat at the cabinet table.

But Sunak instead decided on a mini reshuffle.

The new department structure was heralded as delivering Rishi Sunak’s five promises: to halve inflation, grow the economy, reduce debt, cut waiting lists and stop the boats.

Grow the economy? Fair enough but not in the short term. Halve inflation? Only perhaps in the margins. Reduce debt? No way. Cut waiting lists? Irrelevant. Stop the boats? Of course not. The reorganisation of departments that might prove a lasting legacy for the UK but it will have no impact on the Tories electoral prospects.

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Mark Valladares

7 February 2023 – yesterday’s press releases

By Mark Valladares | Wed 8th February 2023 - 11:47 am
  • Rudderless reshuffle could cost taxpayers £60m
  • Sharp evidence undermines Johnson’s claims
  • Welsh Agriculture Bill a Once in a Lifetime Chance to Provide a Sustainable and Profitable Future for Welsh Farmers

Rudderless reshuffle could cost taxpayers £60m

The Government is likely to spend an estimated £60 million of taxpayers’ money as it sets up four new Departments.

Liberal Democrat analysis shows that the public money being spent on setting up new departments could pay for almost 25 million free school meals. That would equate to enough for a full year of free school meals for over 127,000 children.

The Liberal Democrats have blasted the move as …

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Alice Thomas

Opinion: Nick Clegg, want to win the women’s vote? Try working with one.

By Alice Thomas | Tue 21st October 2014 - 4:45 pm

Lib Dems celebrate 100 years of women councillors - Photo by Martin TodThis week, Lib Dem Women went public with our campaign to lobby Nick Clegg to promote more of our brilliant women, and especially to ask one of them to join the Cabinet. This weekend, it was announced that he has no intention of another reshuffle before the General Election.

Here’s why that’s a really bad idea. It’s not just because the Liberal Democrats have plenty of exceptional and capable women who deserve more senior positions. We do, of course, but if we were talking about experience and ability alone we should have done this in 2010. Annette Brook taught economics for nearly two decades before she became a councillor, mayor and then MP; Susan Kramer had a long and successful career in infrastructure and transport finance; Lorely Burt ran her own award-winning training and development business; I could go on. Nothing about these women suggests they are less capable than, say, Jeremy Browne or Danny Alexander.

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Caron Lindsay

Lessons must be learned from the Jo Swinson speculation

By Caron Lindsay | Sat 12th July 2014 - 2:20 pm

jo swinson by paul walterOn Thursday, George Eaton of the New Statesman blogged that Jo Swinson was about to replace Ed Davey in the forthcoming Cabinet reshuffle.

Today, the Guardian’s Nick Watt says that this is not the case and Jo is expected to become Secretary of State for Scotland in September after the independence referendum.

Nick Clegg, acutely conscious that the five Liberal Democrat cabinet ministers are all men, is expected to promote the business minister Jo Swinson to the cabinet. But she is expected to succeed Alistair Carmichael as Scotland secretary after September’s independence referendum in September if, as expected, the pro-Union side prevails. Carmichael would be praised for his role in the victory as Swinson took charge on introducing greater devolution to the Scottish parliament.

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Newsmoggie

Jo Swinson tipped to replace Ed Davey in Cabinet reshuffle…

By Newsmoggie | Thu 10th July 2014 - 3:30 pm

Jo Swinson Minister for Employment Relations and Consumer AffairsInteresting speculation from George Eaton in the New Statesman that Nick Clegg may have been listening to Stephen Tall and is about to reshuffle the Cabinet, replacing Ed Davey with Jo Swinson. Jenny Willott would take over Jo’s job at the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills.

The report says:

A senior party source suggests that Jo Swinson could replace Ed Davey, the Energy Secretary, in the party’s top team. Swinson, who recently returned from maternity leave (she is married to fellow Lib Dem MP Duncan Hames), has long been regarded as the strongest female candidate to enter the cabinet. She is a Clegg loyalist, a strong media performer, and has impressed during her time as a business minister.

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