British Political Jumble

After the tiring Singapore election season (which is the only sign of political mayhem in Singapore), let us examined on what happened to British Politics over the past week.

Firstly, Tony Blair have been facing extreme pressure at home to let everyone know when he is going off to make way for Gordon Brown. Next, his home secretary, Charles Clarke got into big trouble when it was reveal that foreign prisoners were not deported after their sentences but actually set free in Britain. The last straw was when his rebellious deputy prime minister, John Prescott admitted in an affair after being married for 45 years. So what can Tony do to get out of the big hole?

He re-shuffled the cabinet. First on the list, was sacking Charles Clarke. A portly man, Clarke was often seen as too strong to take on the Home Office. He took over from an embattled David Blunkett and had been caught in trouble after trouble. The foreign prisoners scandal was really the last straw that broke the camel's back. So he had to go and who to replace him at the messy Home Office. Up steps utility man, John Reid. Over the past 7 years, he has held 7 different posts. So he is always considered as a reliable back-up for Blair when a crisis occurs. Sad to say, he has actually not proven his worth anywhere except Northern Ireland due to short spells everywhere.

The next logical choice was also to sack John Prescott. Somehow he has become a liability more than helping Tony Blair. Unfortunately, that would be political suicide to sack him due to his union ties, so clever Blair let him stay as DPM but stripped him of all his portfolios of local governments. Thus making him theoretically Minister without Portfolio. He is increasingly looking more like a liability and I would not be surprised if he is quietly put down.

The biggest shock of this re-shuffle was the demotion of Jack Straw from Foreign Secretary to Leader of the House. The late Robin Cook was similarly demoted in 2001 to let Straw take on the role of Foreign Secretary. Jack Straw has been trying to present himself as the voice of Britain but that has been overshadowed by Blair. It would be a pity to lose him as he has worked tirelessly over the Iraq issue. Coming in his an old colleague of Blair, Magaret Beckett. She is tough but would make a good foreign secretary.

Other re-shuffle sees the promotion of Blair's high flyer David Milliband as the Secretary of the Environment. That shows the emphasis on environmental issues for the upcoming few years.

So what does this re-shuffle tell us about the current status of British politics? Blair is still very much in charge and unfortunately for Gordon Brown, most of his lackeys did not do so well for the re-shuffle.