Boris’s reshuffle was an undignified mess

What a bizarre reshuffle. Most of the – surprisingly favourable – comment which it has received overlooks the most important point. Public expenditure in Britain is now in excess of one trillion pounds. The government is supposed to consist of the executive directors who oversee that massive operation. But this appears to have been the last consideration in the PM’s mind.

Walter Bagehot drew a helpful distinction between the dignified portions of the British constitution and the efficient ones. It is an odd word to use in the context of Boris, but he clearly regards his ministers as belonging to the dignified branch.

It was not all bad. Robert Jenrick and Gavin Williamson had to go and their replacements are outstanding. But why did Dominic Raab survive? In a world full of complexity and risk, the British Foreign Secretary faces an awesome challenge. Raab showed no sign of being up to it. His sole contribution to British foreign policy was to render the Foreign Office dysfunctional. So why was he not sacked?

Instead, he was merely “demoted” to the post of Lord Chancellor and Deputy Prime Minister. The Lord Chancellor has a hybrid role. He is a politician who is also head of the judiciary. This is a particularly tricky combination, especially after the Blairite judicial reforms which owed everything to adolescent radicalism: nothing to deep thought and reverence for institutions. There is no sign that Raab understands this.

His predecessor, Robert Buckland did. So he was sacked. If Raab had gone to the back-benches, he would have made trouble. Buckland will not. Thus a decent man and a good minister is replaced by a truculent character who has shown no signs of sound judgment. It is no way to run a tiny business, let alone a government.

Apropos of incompetence, Priti Patel has survived as Home Secretary. Why? Controlling immigration is difficult. We have an asylum system that is not fit for purpose: it is, indeed, a mockery. At moments, Patel seems to recognise this, so what does she actually do? Make Farage-ist noises and almost threaten a naval stand-off with the French in the English Channel. There is no obvious answer. Finding one will require hard thinking and, again, sound judgment. That is well above Priti Patel’s pay grade.

Then there is Nat Evans, the Leader of the Lords, who adds no heft to the government and commands no respect in the Upper House. She is still in place because Boris has as little regard for the House of Lords as that great institution has for its leader. The PM obviously assumes that he can use that House to keep up his female quota.

When it came to another failure, he took a different view. Amanda Milling deserves a place in the record-books. She is easily the worst and most insignificant Tory Party chairman of all time. But the PM knows that he will have to fight an election in a couple of years or soon thereafter. Hence Oliver Dowden’s appointment. That has been described as a demotion, which is absurd. Winning an election is far more important than running the DCMS, of which more below.

One might have assumed that Miss Milling would have been sacked, a fate she deserved ten times over. That is not the way things work in Bojoland. Instead, she has been sent to the Foreign Office as a Minister of State. What use will she possibly be? Why should any foreign government begin to take her seriously? She does not even qualify as a dignified aspect of the constitution. That does not apply to a mediocrity and a laughing-stock.

Moreover, the other FCO Minister of State is Kemi Badenoch. She is immensely promising, but the new Foreign Secretary will have to share her with Michael Gove. That cannot work. Perhaps because Boris Johnson himself was a weak and idle Foreign Secretary, he may not realise how much effort is involved in doing the job properly. Although LIz Truss, the new Foreign Secretary, is able and has foreign affairs experience from the Department of international Trade, it is no disrespect to her to suggest that she could have done with powerful adjutants, rather than a part-timer – however impressive – and a dunderhead.

As always, It is very hard to read the Prime Minister’s mind. The superficial goofery gives no clues to the cold inner calculation. But it may be that he appointed Truss for two reasons. First, he intends to take all the big decisions himself. Second, he wants to build her up as a rival to Rishi Sunak. At a time of economic uncertainty, Sunak’s team has been reshuffled. He has a new Chief Secretary and he has also lost Jesse Norman, who was apparently offered another post, which he regarded as unworthy. He should indeed have been offered another post – in the cabinet. Norman has earned a high compliment. As intellectually able as anyone in the government, he is as clever as his wife, Kate Bingham. He could well have been a good Foreign Secretary.

Jesse Norman has written books on Edmund Burke and Adam Smith. Nadine Dorries has written works of light fiction. I would bet that they contain no greater challenge to verisimilitude than her appointment to the Cabinet. As one senior Tory put it: “Mad Nad at culture? What did Goering say about reaching for his revolver?”

Some of the simpler-minded Tory Back-benchers are hoping that she will get tore in to the BBC. While it is easy to argue that the BBC deserves someone like Nadine, that person ought to have some powers of judgment. If I were a BBC mandarin, I would secretly welcome her appointment. She is almost certain to get herself into trouble and discredit the good causes which she has clumsily espoused.

She may have been appointed out of gratitude. In 2016, when Michael Gove broke with Boris and ended his leadership campaign, Nadine wept. Boris was touched. How charming. There is an irony. When it comes to making girls cry, Boris is light-years ahead of the Gover. But there you are. When Boris was falling ill with Covid, Nadine Dorries, who happened to be in No.10, recognised that he was seriously ill. Medical help was mobilised. She may even have saved the PM’s life. He would regard that as an unequivocal good.

The DCMS should have gone to Kemi Badenoch who is, inter alia, a street-fighting culture warrior. Instead, she is helping Liz Truss and Michael Gove.

Gove is one of the most misunderstood men in public life. His decision to sabotage Boris’s leadership ambitions – one could only wish that he had been terminally successful – has led many people to regard him as a blend of Machiavelli and Iago. In fact, he is an idealist. When he was at education, the thought of bad schools almost gave him a physical pain. Now, he has to take his idealism to levelling up, and to housing.

Housing should be easier, for three reasons. First, there is no need to despoil beautiful countryside in order to build new houses. There is plenty of scruffy land around, plus brownfield sites, plus now redundant shop-buildings. Second, there is absolutely no need to build ugly houses. For decades, the malign influence of le Corbusier corrupted many British architects. The buildings which displayed this convinced much of the public that modern equals hideous: hence nimbyism. But there is no necessity for ugliness. New housing ought to please the eye. Third, lots of nimbys have children, who want homes.

So Michal Gove may find that he is pushing at an open door. If so, the country will benefit. As for the rest of the reshuffle, the PM let it be known that he wanted boosterish ministers. Perhaps he was misheard, and it ought to have been Woosterish. One suspects that whatever happens to the boosting, any Bojo administration will not lack Woosterism.