05 June 2009

A Mickey Mouse cabinet

Oh dear. Geoff Hoon has left the cabinet. Once again, in normal circumstances this would be a cause for celebration: he's one of the duffest ministers Nu Labor has ever had. As defence secretary he spent most of his time attacking anti-war protesters and as transport secretary he has said yes to every scheme that the privatised railways have come up with to swindle commuters out of more of their hard-earned cash. (There is a whole blog that could be written about that, and maybe someone out there is doing that already, unfortunately I don't have the time.) No-one will miss him. 

The problem is that his replacement as transport secretary is Andrew Adonis, probably the most right-wing person in the Labour party. 

Others have resigned: Margarett Beckett and Caroline Flint, leaving Brown with almost no women at cabinet or senior minister level. 

This cabinet really does look a bit Mickey Mouse: good news, then, that it probably won't be around for very long. I would predict more resignations and the decisive move against Brown when the Euro election results come out on Monday. 

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