Rishi Sunak promotes veteran Grant Shapps and newcomer Claire Coutinho in a limited shake-up of his ministerial team.

  • UKFilmNerd
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    1 year ago

    Is there any other job in the world where the boss can just swap the managers around and hope everything is run better?

    Do these people actually have any qualifications? I don’t understand how you can just shuffle people around when they have no experience of what they’re doing. That’s what it feels like to me.

    • merridew
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      1 year ago

      Ministers aren’t supposed to have experience, they’re there to make decisions. All the expertise is held in the Civil Service, and they don’t get shuffled around.

      They just get occasionally fired by vandals.

      The decision of Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwaerteng to instantly sack two top civil servants damaged the running of government and seemed intended to give the message that they valued political alignment above competence, former senior officials have said.

      https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2023/apr/26/liz-truss-kwasi-kwarteng-sacking-top-two-civil-servants-damaged-government

    • Echo Dot
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      1 year ago

      Randomly reshuffling the cabinet is all Sunak can do at this point. That “We want to be dictators but we are not bright enough” party it’s constantly on the brink of self-destruction and the only way to hold it together is to give some of the more, enthusiastic members, top jobs to keep them quiet.

  • AutoTL;DR@lemmings.worldB
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    1 year ago

    This is the best summary I could come up with:


    Rishi Sunak has promoted cabinet veteran Grant Shapps to the role of defence secretary in a mini reshuffle of his top team.

    Some Tory MPs had expected Mr Sunak to carry out a more wide-ranging reshuffle, ahead of next month’s Conservative Party conference and the King’s Speech, setting out the government’s priorities.

    Last October, he spent six days as home secretary during the final chaotic week of Liz Truss, following the resignation of Suella Braverman from that role.

    Former chief of staff Lord Dannatt said: "The big question is whether Grant Shapps is going to be a political appointee to support the prime minister in cabinet or is he going to understand the needs of defence.

    Liberal Democrat defence spokesperson Richard Foord said Mr Sunak had appointed a “yes man”, who will be in charge of “slashing troop numbers by 10,000”.

    He became a high-profile and ardent supporter of Ukraine after Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022, cajoling other nations to respond to President Zelensky’s call for weapons to repel the Russian threat.


    The original article contains 870 words, the summary contains 175 words. Saved 80%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!

  • MrNesser@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Ugh Grant Schapps takes boot kicking to a new level. He shines like a freshly polished turd.

    MoD must be shitting themselves that he has been appointed.