The New Cabinet sat today; only one member remained in the same post that was the quietly efficient and very effective Defence Secretary Des Browne.
The New Prime Minister has created three new departments: the Department for Children, Schools and Families, the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform and the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills.
As with all Government announcements the devil is in the detail. The Department for Trade and Industry has been abolished, along with the Department for Education and Skills which has been split into two.
The DTI becomes the Department of Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform, with John Hutton as Secretary of State.
The new department will take the lead in "creating the conditions for business success" and promoting "productivity and enterprise" across government and within the European Community, according to Gordon Brown. Exactly how the new department will be able to influence the reform the mass of EU regulation that impacts badly particularly on the UKs small and large business community remains to be seen.
It will also take joint responsibility with the Department for International Development on trade policy and with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office on trade promotion.
The Prime Minister said in his statement that the changes would "sharpen the focus of central government" on the "new and very different challenges" that Britain will face in the future.
.Mr Brown also made history by appointing his faithful leadership campaign manager and former Leader of the House, Jack Straw, as the first non-peer to bear the centuries-old title of Lord Chancellor.
He was able to replace Lord Falconer in the role thanks to Labour's 2005 shake-up of the judicial system, to the fury of traditionalists particularly the editor of this blog!
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Clearly our new Prime Minister is very keen on change. A particularly curious change Gordon Brown announced was the creation of the Business Council for Britain, which will work closely with the newly formed business department. It sounds, on first impressions all very impressive.
We understand that the new council will apparently be made up of senior leaders and figures from the business community, including the Amstrad boss and star of BBC1's The Apprentice, Sir Alan Sugar.
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The Council will report to the government and Parliament on Britain's progress in improving its economic and business environment. Actually that is pure window dressing since it is the EU government in Brussels that makes all the important decisions that impact on businesses. Maybe that is exactly what the new Council members will tell the new PM. Perhaps even better Sir Alan will endorsee the vote from a few years ago of branch delegates of the largest member based business organisation in the UK, the Federation of Small Businesses, and tell the EU: '' Your fired '' !
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Who is who in the Brown circle ? See:
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2 comments:
Thankyou for that comprehensive account Peter.
How can the Brown Government claim to be different when Mr Brown was himself in effect the No 2 in the Government for over 10 years. Is this Spin but not as we have known it ?
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