Precious few options

I do enjoy the email discussions that are posted over at Comment Central.  In their latest exchange, Danny Finkelstein and Philip Collins discuss the likelihood of a Cabinet reshuffle after the June elections.  And Collins – who was Tony Blair’s speechwriter – makes an observation which belongs in the “Nice to have it confirmed” folder:

“I remember more than one Tony Blair reshuffle which was expressly designed to fill the news pages with something other than the disaster that had just happened. So, that’s the point.”

As Collins goes on to say, the problem Brown faces is that so few of his reshuffle options “grab the attention”.  And those that do – moving, say, Ed Balls to Chancellor – could ignite the next round of concerted leadership speculation, and just feed into the whole “disaster” story.  Oh well – I guess nothing’s easy for a beleagured Prime Minister.