Briefing from the Prime Minister’s Official Spokesman on: Statement in the Commons and Reshuffle.
Statement in the Commons
The Prime Minister’s Official Spokesman told journalists that the Prime Minister would be making a statement to the House on Wednesday after PMQs on some of the constitutional issues that flowed from the reshuffle, in particular the changes to the Judiciary.
Reshuffle
Asked what had prompted the Prime Minister’s statement the PMOS said it had been organised in the usual way. Asked for a more precise answer as to whether it had been agreed in the last few hours or planned for some time the PMOS said he believed that we were getting into more and more unnecessary procedural scrutiny. The Prime Minister was perfectly happy to make a statement to the House on Wednesday about the issues we had been setting out for some days now. The statement would not break new ground given that we have already announced the policy, but obviously it was a useful opportunity to engage with MPs. Asked what issues the statement would cover the PMOS said that chiefly it would set out the far-reaching reforms in relation to the Judiciary. Although they had been overtaken by the focus on some of the process points, obviously these were very far-reaching reforms in relation to the separation of the Executive from the Judiciary. That was the important point in all this.
Asked if the Judicial changes were expected to be in place before the next election the PMOS said that we would set out the proposals in the coming weeks and there would obviously be full consultation on that. Obviously he was not going to prejudge the timetable for that or future legislation in the Queen’s speech. Asked if the transition process was irrevocable the PMOS reminded journalists that we had said the current arrangements would continue until such time as they were changed under statute. The Government had set out the direction it wanted to go. There would be full consultation on these issues and details would be set out to both Houses in due course. As Lord Falconer said over the weekend, that would happen in weeks rather than months.
Asked if the Prime Minister was happy about only having Under Secretaries answerable to the Commons rather than a Minister of State for the new Department the PMOS said that the situation was that there were two very capable Under Secretaries at that Department, Chris Leslie and David Lammy, who would obviously take forward DCA business in the Commons.
Questioned as to the Prime Minister’s views on how many Lords there should be in his Cabinet the PMOS said that the Prime Minister obviously appointed the team who he felt were best able to do the work. In terms of an upper limit on the number of Lords in the Cabinet he hadn’t heard the Prime Minister express a view about it. Asked about Baroness Amos the PMOS said Baroness Chalker had been an example of a Lord who had in the previous Government represented development issues. Asked if this was unfair comparison because she had been accountable to the Foreign Office and the ODA had been outside the Cabinet, the PMOS told journalists that it could be argued the other way. That there was now a stronger voice at the Cabinet table, as there was now a separate Minister who was in the Lords and was actually in the Cabinet rather than outside it. He thought that point was of rather more interest to the public.
Further information
- Previous Government press briefings
- Ministerial Appointments: Full list of ministerial changes to Her Majesty’s Government
- Margaret Hodge appointed Minister of State for Children
- Lord Falconer appointed Secretary of State for Constitutional Affairs
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