Cameron has matched Brown’s reshuffle like-for-like. But is it enough, asks donald malcolm |
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Who was to blame for the grammar schools row that engulfed the Tories a few weeks ago? To many it looked as though the Dithering Dave was Cameron not Willetts, the Tory education spokesman. But it is Willetts who has been made the scapegoat.
Cameron had to re-jig his team following Gordon Brown's government changes, which included splitting Education into two departments - Children, Schools and Families under Ed Balls and Innovation, Universities and Skills under John Denham.
So, Michael Gove, Times journalist turned Tory MP, is promoted to shadow Balls, and Willetts will take on Denham, a move clearly signalled as a demotion.
Other changes announced yesterday are also reactive. Harriet Harman's new role as Labour Party chair is matched by Caroline Spelman's appointment as Tory chairman.
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| Sayeeda Warsi, the first Muslim ever to be appointed to a shadow Cabinet |
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Similarly, Cameron has brought in a British- born Muslim woman, Sayeeda Warsi (left), as shadow community cohesion minister. This follows Brown's appointment of two Muslims to his government: Shahid Malik at the department for International Development, and Sadiq Khan in the Whips' Office. Because Ms Warsi lost to Malik in Dewsbury in 2005, she has to be given a peerage to enable her to enter the shadow Cabinet.
At the top, despite calls to give William Hague the shadow Chancellorship, there is no change. George Osborne, David Davis and Hague keep their Treasury, Home Office and Foreign briefs. This is because Cameron needed to freshen his team without looking as though he was panicking following the Brown 'bounce', which has put Labour back in the lead in polls for the first time in over six months.
A worry for the Tories is that at least one recent poll suggested they could lose ground at a general election. That is, Cameron would produce a worse result than did Michael Howard in 2005. Just what Gordon Brown is hoping - and planning - for. 
FIRST POSTED JULY 3, 2007
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