Sunday, May 6, 2007

John Reid to resign as Home Secretary

John Reid has announced that he will step down as Home Secretary when Tony Blair goes. He says he wants to "recharge his batteries" on the backbenches. He is lucky to be able to choose (to a certain degree - although it's a 'jumped before he was pushed by Gordie' situation) when he leaves the Home Office - most Home Secretaries don't.

I suspect he could not work with Gordon Brown. It has already been speculated that Reid was the minister who told Nick Robinson that “Brown would make a ****ing dreadful Prime Minister”.

2 comments:

  1. Paul,

    Did you actually see The Politics Show?

    Reid was pretty catagorical that he had been told he would have a place in the Cabinet, but had declined. Of course he could be lying, but we have no evidence that he is.

    I reckon you're right that he could not work with Gordon, but I also guess that Gordon would have kept him in the Cabinet - if only based on the principle "Keep your friends close and your enemies closer".

    More to the point, I reckon Reid will keep his disquiet to himself; at least for a while.

    For a full explanation see http://liberalpolemic.blogspot.com/2007/05/brown-in-reid-out.html

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks for your comment Tom. I didn't see the Politics Show as I am currently in "Election Detox Mode" (EDM) and was taking photos of my peony at the time. I read your posting after I wrote mine. My comment was fairly casual. But I suspect that Reid would not feel as if he could work comfortably in a Brown cabinet and would be an early available scapegoat for any disaster which popped up. Of course, he has dressed it up beautifully but my guess is that Reid simply could not work with Brown. It is very difficult to think of two stronger characters who would be most unlikely to kow-tow to the other, especially if some of the whispers about Brown's modus operandi are to be believed. But perhaps you are right and Reid saw the "out" opportunity as too attractive to miss. It is very difficult to think of the last Home Secretary who didn't have to resign because of some sort of debacle. Jack Straw perhaps?

    ReplyDelete