The cruel jibe has it that Eric Pickles’ sacking in the reshuffle frees up two seats around the Cabinet table.
Still, it appears to have come as a shock to the former communities secretary, as he was confidently predicting a return to government and was “waiting by my phone” for the call.
Local government watchers see signs here of David Cameron trying to mend fences by replacing the abrasive Pickles with the more emollient cities minister, Greg Clark, who is widely liked across the political divide.
It seems to be a version of the same tactic tried last year when the Prime Minister unceremoniously dumped Michael Gove from education, replacing him with the balm-anointing Nicky Morgan. Consolidators following revolutionaries, as it were.
Neither is it lost on Cameron that the surge of Conservative councillors from last week has seen the party take political control of the Local Government Association.
He can do without Pickles being gratuitously rude to his party’s elected grassroots, especially as he was boasting that there was still an “awful lot of money to be still saved” from council budgets.
Tags: devolution, Eric Pickles, Greg Clark, LGA, Nicky Morgan, reshuffle
Do you not think it might be because the Tories intend to devolve powers to some form of a new Greater Manchester Authority, A Greater Birmingham Authority and possibly a Merseyside Authority along woith more powers to the GLA, and Pickles is not seen as the best man to help deliver it?
So, we can expect Lutfur Rahman to be reinstated then? What a stupid article. Talk about grasping at straws. And that includes you Tafia.
Was this written before Gove’s new job or are you just stupid?
No Tafia, its just that Pickles is a bear of very little imagination.
Swat, Pickles is actually a highly competent politician who has served as a Cabinet Minister under one administration and a shadow secretary of state under three opposition leaders.
He has not been allocated this time round because Cameron now has his majority and will install probably the most right wing Cabinet this country has ever seen and Pickles is not that right wingh as tories go.
The people of Tower Hamlets will certainly remember Pickles and do so with affection. Probably very few judges are known by their names but this certainly isn’t the case with Mawrey the election commissioner who turfed out the corrupt Islamist administration of Lutfur Rahman which was backed by Livingstone, Shawcroft, Galloway and Labour’s biggest financial backer Unite.
Talking of Cristine Shawcroft it seems she has been suspended by the NEC. Any details anyone?