Brace yourselves – the reshuffle forecasts have shifted from ‘likely’ to ‘imminent’. According to this morning’s paper’s, one could come as early as September 1st, as Brown tries to reestablish his government after the summer recess.
So, who’ll go where? Well, there’s talk of promotions to the Cabinet for Liam Bryne and Jim Murphy (the former was awarded The Spectator/Threadneedle’s ‘Minister to Watch’ 2007, and the latter was recently interviewed by Fraser). And demotions for Des Browne, Paul Murphy and Hilary Benn. But the big question is of what Brown will do with David Miliband, if the Foreign Secretary hasn’t formally lauched a leadership challenge by then. A “job swap” between him and Alistair Darling is “one option” currently being considered – sending Milband to the Treasury, and placating Darling with the position of Foreign Secretary.
Will it do any good? There are plenty of reasons to be sceptical (Dizzy gives a good rundown of them here).
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