Does Rishi’s reshuffle show he’s given up on the Red Wall?

Tories in Red Wall seats are in a mixed mood after Rishi Sunak’s reshuffle. They are pleased that Lee Anderson has been made deputy chair of the party, though this is in part to counterbalance the appointment of a south-west London MP as party chairman.

There are also some wry smiles from Conservatives who had been planning a rebellion to force Rishi Sunak’s hand on the European Convention on Human Rights: Anderson would have been a key figure in this revolt, which is presumably a good reason for giving him a government job. 

Sunak has, though, ignored the plea of the Northern Research Group of Tory MPs to bring back the Minister for the North job at cabinet level. They reminded the PM hours before his reshuffle that he had signed a pledge to that effect during the first Conservative leadership contest.