No mention of Summer Seating Furniture or Big Ships that Sank, Until the Very End of this Post...

Blair's pathetic attempt to shore up the sinking ship and try and take on the appalling election results with a drastic[sic] reshuffle appear to have been singularly unsuccessful. There are many reasons this comes as no suprise, but one is the obvious constraint he has to work around - that he is limited to those who supported, and continue to support the Iraq war. Given that this position takes a rather worrying degree of myopia, he is limited by the material he can work with...

Within that small group, he is further limited by what each minister has screwed up already, or has the potential to screw up again.

Then, he is further limited by the fact he can't afford to upset too many people who know where the skeletons are buried, or even too many of the high profile figures whose public loyalty he needs, however bad they are at their jobs.

So it is perhaps unsprising that the resulting mess has convinced nobody.

Charles Clarke obviously had to go, and it was pretty obvious that Blair was doing his best to keep his distance untill after the election, whilst appearing as loyal as he could. But did he sack him? Nope - he tried to move him sideways. It was Clarke who walked away, so no blood let there.

And John Prescott - what kind of twisted logic convinced them that him keeping his title, his cabinet role, his wage, the houses and the car, but losing his job, his workload and his responsibility was going to convince anybody?

John was due to appear on TV tomorrow morning, but apparently he has pulled out [of the interview...] to be replaced by Gordon Brown, who will or more likely won't make his intentions known. This change of heart by John obviously has nothing to with the fact the MoS are due to be running more on Prezza's love life tomorrow, though nobody knows which rumour will or won't become a story. I wonder if he has worked out what the answer to the question "What is Prescott for?" yet, because nobody else has.

Which brings me on to Hazel Blears, the new Party Chairman. She tried to answer that question this morning at the end of an interview that would make milk curdle. Breathtaking stuff, from the woman tasked with rejuvenating the party, rebuilding morale, and the Labour website apparently. We, the great unwashed are not, and henceforth should not be interested in the boring detals of the government, we just need to keep checking our league tables...
Now I know I'm a cynic, but I don't think this will be Tony's most popular or successful appointment?

The attack dog they call John Reid was predictably moved to the Home Office, Chicken Yoghurt has said all that needs to be said on that matter. Although, after last wednesday's interview 'responding' to the concerns about the MoD refusing to fit protection to the fuel tanks of Hercules Arcraft In Iraq and Afghanistan, he doubtless won't be missed at the MoD...
He is replaced at the Ministry of Defence by Des Browne, who's job before last was, yes you've guessed it, Minister of State for Citizenship and Immigration at the Home Office untill May 05. Just what the MoD needs: the man who oversaw the Immigration Service as the numbers of foreign prisoners being released without deportation being considered was climbing to it's peak...

Jack Straw leaving the Foreign Office to become leader of the house appears to be the biggest suprise, though why this should be, given his performance at the FCO and the performance of the FCO, is perhaps as big a suprise.
Various explanations have been floated, amongst them that he wanted to go, really. Or that he was getting too close to Gordon, loyalty to the master is after all essential. Or that his position on Iran was upsetting Blair/Bush - delete as applicable. Or that he was to close to Condi, to say nothing of the fact he made a complete cock of himself and Condi on her visit here. Or Perhaps a combination of all or some of the above?
But Jack has gone quietly, perhaps mindful that the gossip of Labour Scandal might potentially explode on his doorstep if he makes too much fuss, or perhaps because he really did want to go.

Buff Hoon has been demoted from leader of the house to be Europe Minister, but despite suggestions he wasn't happy about this, a bit of spinning [allegedly by Buff] has ensured he is still allowed to go and play with the cabinet once a week even if he is no longer a Secretary of State.
I was told by someone who has met Buff on a number of occasions that it wouldn't matter what job he had, Buff can always be depended upon to read whatever is on his cue cards, and then stick to the given line, in the face of any logical or reasonable argument, and that is the single skill that kept him his ministerial jobs.

Joan of Arc's sideways step from Eduction to Equality is not without a hint of controversy[sic]. Whilst I for one am glad the minister responsible for my son's education is not a religious nut [and I chose my words pretty carefully there]. Ruth Kelly's membership of Opus Dei is already worrying members of the gay community. Her preferred method of answering the conflict between voting presumably against her beliefs and with her government, or following her faith and defying her whip [the party one] on 'gay issues' has been to absent herself from the vote. As minister with responsiblity for some of these issues, she will have to tighten that cilice and lead from the front.

The list goes on and on - the reason why the deckchairs and Titanic analogy has quite reasonably been overused so much in the last couple of days. But there is a big difference between the Titanic and this Labour Government.
The crew of the Titanic didn't know they were going to sink untill they hit something.