"I saw how challenging reshuffles can be for PM and party when I was chief whip under Rishi Sunak. They tend to make more enemies than friends, even when they are carefully planned and executed. Worse, the friends they make were probably your friends anyway, and the enemies you make are the ones who used to be your friends. In other words, there are only downsides."
"In other words, there are only downsides. For Starmer, dumping the unknowns Ian Murray and Lucy Powell seems to have done little but bruise egos, and moving the well-respected home secretary, Yvette Cooper, to the very glamorous but electorally less significant Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, has all the hallmarks of an attempt to complete a political Rubik's cube by force."
The reshuffle was rushed and emergency-driven, culminating in Angela Rayner's dismissal and harming Keir Starmer's anti-sleaze reputation. Reshuffles often create more enemies than friends and can alienate former allies. Removing Ian Murray and Lucy Powell mainly bruised egos, while transferring Yvette Cooper to the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office appears tactically political but electorally marginal. The Rayner episode distracted from a more consequential change: sacking Chancellor Rachel Reeves would signal decisive control, yet Reeves currently appears politically untouchable. Despite a large parliamentary majority, party cohesion has faltered within a year as MPs worry about ministerial and electoral prospects.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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