Who is missing?

The Cabinet is taking shape, admittedly with one or two surprises and not all of them good ones. There is still a way to go, even though action has already been taken on the NI increase. I understand that Michael Gove will be education secretary, which obviously leaves the hugely impressive David Laws to find another brief. Work and Pensions is a possibility, a job that has also been earmarked for the equally impressive Philip Hammond. There is a very obvious lack of women – Sarah Teather is highly regarded on the Lib Dem side, probably more so than her counterparts on the Tory side. I’ve heard rumours that she’s possibly headed for Transport or Communities. Though, of course, nothing is certain.

So, who has lost out? Chris Grayling look like being sent on gardening leave. Theresa May’s promotion to the Home Office surely ends David Davis’ hopes of a Cabinet post. Will William Hague and Liam Fox be enough assuage the Tory right? Probably not, especially as there are five Lib Dems around the Cabinet table. Surely Cameron has something up his sleeve to deal with that problem? 

UPDATE: IDS at the DWP is an inspired move, brilliant both for radical Welfare reform and of course to satisfy the Tory right.  David Laws’s Treasury appointment looks like freezing out Philip Hammond.

UPDATE2: Baroness Warsi for Communities according to the Beeb and other sources. The five Lib Dem posts have been filled. Hunt, Hammond, Spelman and Villiers remain in the hunt for Transport and Culture. Presumably, Owen Paterson will fill the Northem Ireland brief.

UPDATE3: Grayling is to be a minister at the DWP – this is excellent, involved in th brief he dominated before his unhappy stint shadowing the Home Office.