Charles Clarke was sacked as Home Secretary and Jack Straw removed from the
Foreign Office today as Tony Blair reacted to a drubbing from the voters
with a radical Cabinet reshuffle clearly designed to reassert his authority
as Prime Minister.
Mr Clarke will be replaced by the equally combative John Reid, who moves over
from Defence to take on perhaps the most difficult Cabinet portfolio of all.
Mr Straw becomes Leader of the Commons, to be replaced by Margaret Beckett,
the Environment Secretary, while Geoff Hoon takes on a new post as Minister
for Europe, attending Cabinet.
The Prime Minister also cut loose Ruth Kelly, the Education Secretary, who is
to be replaced by Alan Johnson, currently the Trade Secretary.
Ms Kelly was widely seen as having failed to communicate the message behind
Labour's school reforms, but received a significant consolation post when
she was given John Prescott's departmental responsibilities as the new
Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government.
Mr Prescott has been under fire since news broke of his affair with a diary
secretary 24 years his junior, but although the Labour veteran has lost his
department, he remains his Cabinet post, his title as Deputy Prime Minister
and his role as a behind-the-scenes party fixer.
Mr Johnson will be replaced at the DTI by Alistair Darling, who moves across
from Transport. Douglas Alexander, the Europe Minister, has been promoted to
Transport Secretary.
Mr Reid will be replaced as Defence Secretary by Des Browne, Chief Secretary
to the Treasury. Mr Brown, a 54-year-old Scot, is widely considered to be an
ally of Gordon Brown.
Ian McCartney loses his job as party chairman, to be replaced by Hazel
Blears, the most successful of the 1997 intake of "Blair Babes",
while Jacqui Smith takes over as Chief Whip from Hilary Armstrong, who
famously let the Government lose a knife-edge vote on anti-terror
legislation.
Ms Armstrong has been moved to the new post of Social Exclusion Minister,
with Cabinet status as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster.
In a good day for Labour's female "big beasts", both Tessa Jowell,
the Culture Secretary, and Patricia Hewitt, the Health Secretary, retain
their posts. There was also a promotion for David Miliband, the Local
Government Minister, who will take over from Ms Beckett at the Department
for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.
The scale of the reshuffle shocked Westminster insiders, despite Labour's
worst election showing since Mr Blair came to power. Of the major offices of
state, only Mr Brown, the Chancellor, remains in his job - and Mr Blair gave
no sign that he is yet ready to hand him the keys to No 10.
"This was not a balanced Blair-Brown reshuffle, it's definitely a
Blairite reshuffle," said Rosemary Bennett, Deputy Political Editor of The
Times. "Gordon Brown will be very wary of the promotion of John
Reid to Home Secretary and Alan Johnson to Education - either man is
potentially a leadership challenger."
Labour lost 261 councillors across England as well as control of 16 town
halls in a performance that raises clear doubts about its chances at the
next general election.
The Conservatives won roughly the same number of council seats as Labour lost
- their best showing since 1992 - while the Liberal Democrats picked up just
18 councillors. The main parties' share of the vote were projected at:
Conservatives 40 per cent, Lib Dems 27 per cent, Labour 26 per cent.
Mr Clarke had been under massive pressure to resign after it emerged that
1,023 foreign prisoners had been released from UK jails without due
consideration as to whether they were deported. In the run-up to the
election, Mr Blair had backed his Home Secretary, but he told him this
morning that he could no longer continue.
Mr Clarke told reporters: "The Prime Minister, as is his right and
responsibility, has made the judgement that my continued occupation of the
post of Home Secretary is likely to stand in the way of the continuing
reforms that remain necessary - and while I do not agree with that
judgement, I entirely accept his right to make it.
"I do not think it would be appropriate to remain in Government in these
circumstances and so I shall return to the backbenches where I will be a
strong and active supporter of this Government and the leadership of Tony
Blair for his full Parliamentary term."
In a statement, Mr Blair praised Mr Clarke, describing him as a "tower
of strength" after last year's July 7 bombings in London. He added: "I
felt it was very difficult, given the level of genuine public concern, for
Charles to continue in this post. I was keen not to lose Charles’ talents
from Government and offered him a number of other Cabinet posts. I
understand his decision to leave the Government and he will continue to be a
major figure in our party."
The sackings came after Labour's worst electoral bloodbath since Mr Blair
came to power. The Conservatives won roughly the same number of council
seats - 250 - as Labour lost, their best showing since 1992 - while the
Liberal Democrats picked up just 18 councillors.
It was a good night for the British National Party, which saw 13 councillors
elected - although 11 of them in Barking, East London, where Margaret Hodge,
the local Labour MP, has been accused of talking up the party's chances.
David Cameron said the vote had produced "very strong results" for
the Tories in their first big test since he became leader. "We hit that
all-important 40 per cent share of the vote," he said.
On a visit to Hammersmith, which fell into Conservative hands for the first
time since 1968, Mr Cameron welcomed the dismissal of Mr Clarke. But he
added: "Yes, the Prime Minister is having a reshuffle, but it will take
far more than a reshuffle. What this country needs is a replacement of
government."
But Mr Cameron conceded that the Tories, who fared much better in London and
the South than further North, still had a lot of work to do. "I’m not
claiming that this means it’s going to be easy from here on. Of course it
isn’t. We’ve got a lot of hard work to do, not least in places like
Manchester and Newcastle," he told GMTV.
Labour's most damaging defeats came in London, where the party lost control of
ten town halls including Camden, Merton, Lewisham and Croydon. The
Conservatives gained control of Ealing, Bexley and Hammersmith and Fulham
and for the first time since 1978 now control more London boroughs than does
Labour.
Outside the capital, Labour's losses included Derby, Stoke-on-Trent,
Warrington and Crawley. Conservative success in London and the shires was
not repeated in metropolitan areas of the North, with Mr Cameron failing in
his effort to establish a toehold in places such as Manchester and Newcastle
and coming fourth to the Greens in Liverpool.
On a visit to Hammersmith, which fell into Conservative hands for the first
time since 1968, Mr Cameron welcomed the dismissal of Mr Clarke. But he
added: "Yes, the Prime Minister is having a reshuffle, but it will take
far more than a reshuffle. What this country needs is a replacement of
government."
The disastrous results for Labour led to calls from backbenchers for Mr Blair
to set out a timetable to hand over the premiership to his presumed
successor, Gordon Brown, the Chancellor.
Mr Brown appeared to foreshadow a major reshuffle this morning when he told
the BBC that Labour had to act get to grip with its problems firmly and fast.
"We have got to do it competently, efficiently, and we have got to show
in the next few days - not just the next few weeks - that we have sorted
these problems out," Mr Brown told Radio 4's Today programme.
The Chancellor refused to be drawn on whether the results had brought forward
the expected handover of power to him Mr Blair, but added: "The renewal
of the Labour Party must start now."
Party: councils controlled; change; seat change
Con: 65; +8; +261
Lab: 24; -16; -261
LD: 13; +1; +14
BNP: 0; 17; +15
