Ten months after being appointed by Gordon Brown to be his troubleshooter and fixer, Stephen Carter found himself on his way to the Lords yesterday to be a business minister.

Mr Carter, who left his post as chief executive of the communications consultancy Brunswick for Mr Brown, will become Minister for Communications, Technology and Broadcasting.

He would have had mixed feelings, because his switch will be regarded as the end of a failed experiment. Had it been a success, he would have been going nowhere. But through no fault of Mr Carter’s, Mr Brown’s fortunes have fallen rather than risen.

The other big departure was that of Damian McBride, Mr Brown’s controversial political press spokesman, who had worked with him previously in his tightly knit Treasury team.

Several ministers had complained to Mr Brown of what they called “poisonous” briefings, and suggesting that Mr McBride was the cause. In the end both he and Mr Brown knew that, whatever the truth of those claims, his continued presence was damaging. He will remain within the Government but will no longer deal with the press.

As Mr Brown’s leading political briefer Mr McBride was blamed, whether he was responsible or not, for some of the harsher verdicts on ministerial performance in recent months.

Officials said that it would now have overall political control through Liam Byrne, the new Minister for the Cabinet Office, and his deputy, Tom Watson.

Times Recommends

• The playboy and the Tory party leader
• Bin Laden's family tree is impenetrable jungle
• Paul McCartney