Was it a disappointment?

Starmer
Simon Dawson / No10 Downing Street, OGL 3, via Wikimedia Commons

In answer to that I can only say it was on the disappointing side. What you ask. The ministerial reshuffle of course. Bit of musical chairs at the top and alarge clear out at the Home Office but apart from that, not much in the way of meat so to speak. Only Crayons, Liz Kendall, Baroness Gustafsson, Jim McMahon and Daniel Zeichner are out, the rest are just swapping seats or even staying put. See, I told you you would not have heard of most of them.

I missed a few names, Eagle brother Maria and Catherine McKinell have left the government along with Abena Oppong-Asare, Catherine West and Lords Ponsonby and Khan. Yet again, bar the Eagle brother, the rest are nonentities.

Keith’s main rival, Wes Streeting, was left alone carrying the poison chalice of rNHS.  The alleged most popular MP with the Labour members is the absolutely barking Ed Miliband. He is reputedly the front runner to be chosen as the new deputy leader of the Labour Party. A post that is usually rewarded with the job of deputy PM but that seat is currently occupied by the Tottenham Turnip. I don’t think the chubby Guyanan would take kindly to being replaced. Anyhow the EdStone remains in charge of windmills.

There was a wholesale bloodbath at the Home Office. In comes Shabana Mahmood who is more likely to bring the invaders across on ferries though I suppose that would stop the dinghies. The former Home Secretary, Pixie Cooper Balls, is now disgracing the office of Foreign Secretary. Shabana Mahmood’s former fiefdom, the Justice Secretary, has been taken over by the Tottenham Turnip and he is also Lord Chancellor. The Eagle brother Angela who was in the Treasury has been moved to DEFRA or whatever it is called these days. It may be worth pointing out that the Home Office is the nominal boss of MI5 who have over 40,000 potential terrorists on a watch list. Many of these will be muslim, I wonder how a devout Muslim will react to this.

Jason Stockwood, an outsider, is going to be Minister for Investment. He is going to be ennobled so he can be in government. How these lefties rail against the House of Lords until it suits them.

Puffins’ favourite Captain Underpants will be a minister in the Dept. Of Business and Trade. Rachel from Complaints’ sister Ellie has been moved out of the cabinet and will be the solicitor general.

I could enliven your day with names such as Zubir Ahmed and Miatta Fahnbulleh but you won’t have heard of those either. Oh for the days when many ministers were household names.  I say this not out of nostalgia but because I like a good dose of Schadenfreude when one or more get the chop.

Some commentators say Keith has strengthened his hand with this reshuffle, others say he is fatally weakened. I am not sure myself but I can say that he is rubbing his hatred of this country and its inhabitants in our noses. With a deputy PM who is desperate to give trillions in reparations to the Caribbean countries and a Home Secretary whose main preoccupation is her belief in Islam rather than the country she is supposed to serve, we can expect very little in the way of good news.

This shuffling of ministers was preceded by an announcement  that Rachel from Complaints would be left in place to reassure the bond markets. I would have thought that her staying put would have the opposite effect on these markets or are they run by simpletons.

As we start on Phase 2 of Spanner’s Plan for Change there is a real sense of foreboding about the country. It was heartening to hear chants of “Starmer is a winker” or something of that ilk at the England game against Andorra. Mind you the football was so dire they had to sing something to stop themselves falling asleep.

As we survey the underlying unrest in our nation, the hanging of flags, the protests against being invaded, the increasing number of “Starmer is a winker” banners everywhere, is the Prime Minister blind. Surely even he can see his government is not popular but he just doubles down. As for our monarch, the man is a lost cause. The Windsors have long been preoccupied with retaining their throne but the way this one is going about it almost ensures they will lose it. The gov dot uk website listing the changes begins with “The King has been pleased to approve the following appointments”. In some cases I expect he will be pleased, others not so much. My conviction that he has already converted would imply that he is pleased by those that displease the majority of his subjects.

The hapless Liz Truss was booted out because the bond rates edged ever closer to 5%, now they are over 5.7% and Robber Reeves is still in Number 11. A clearer case of hypocrisy would be hard to find. Still at least it gave the dimunitve NikNak his chance and he proved to us all that he was not up to much.

With the autumn budget now expected late in November the more cynical among us would speculate that the economic news will be so bad that the PM will need a scapegoat and poor Rachel falls into that slot. Expect a new Chancellor around that time. You could also place bets on the size of the black hole.

Overall it was disappointing, notwithstanding the former deputy PM’s discomfort. The musical chairs side of it was frankly ridiculous. Must do better next time.
 

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