![David Cameron official](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/21/David_Cameron_official.jpg)
British prime minister
David Cameron
David William Donald Cameron (born 9 October 1966) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2010 to 2016 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2005 to 2016. He previously served as Leader o ...
reshuffled the
Conservative
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...
members of his
coalition government
A coalition government is a form of government in which political parties cooperate to form a government. The usual reason for such an arrangement is that no single party has achieved an absolute majority after an election, an atypical outcome in ...
on 15 July 2014. The reshuffle, intended to strengthen his party's position in advance of the
2015 general election, had been long anticipated, as Cameron had maintained an unusually high level of stability amongst the senior ranks of his government, with only one prior reshuffle of significance, and many ministers having remained in place since their
election in 2010. The reshuffle also featured the appointment of a new
European Commissioner
A European Commissioner is a member of the 27-member European Commission. Each member within the Commission holds a specific portfolio. The commission is led by the President of the European Commission. In simple terms they are the equivalent ...
representing the United Kingdom, as the term of
Lady Ashton was set to expire later in 2014.
Liberal Democrat
Several political parties from around the world have been called the Liberal Democratic Party or Liberal Democrats. These parties usually follow a liberal democratic ideology.
Active parties
Former parties
See also
*Liberal democracy
*Lib ...
ministers, led by the Deputy Prime Minister,
Nick Clegg
Sir Nicholas William Peter Clegg (born 7 January 1967) is a British media executive and former Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom who has been president for global affairs at Meta Platforms since 2022, having previously been vicepr ...
, were unaffected by the reshuffle.
Changes in the ministry
Reaction
Promotion of women
Downing Street had long briefed that the promotion of "as many as ten" women, both into the lower ranks of government and the cabinet, would be pursued aggressively in the reshuffle. This led to much media speculation over the future of male ministers,
and lowered the expectations of male backbenchers, with one reported to have said "If you're white and male, you've got no chance of promotion".
This attracted attacks on Cameron from both the right and left before the reshuffle even began, with Tory peer
Lord Ashcroft
Michael Anthony Ashcroft, Baron Ashcroft, (born 4 March 1946) is a British-Belizean businessman, pollster and politician. He is a former deputy chairman of the Conservative Party. Ashcroft founded Michael A. Ashcroft Associates in 1972 and is ...
saying that the "impending ministerial reshuffle will be determined by optics rather than ability",
and Labour's
Shadow Home Secretary
In British politics, the Shadow Home Secretary (formally known as the Shadow Secretary of State for the Home Department) is the person within the shadow cabinet who shadows the Home Secretary; this effectively means scrutinising government polic ...
,
Yvette Cooper
Yvette Cooper (born 20 March 1969) is a British politician serving as Shadow Secretary of State for the Home Department, Shadow Home Secretary since 2021, and previously from 2011 to 2015. She served in Gordon Brown's Brown ministry, Cabinet as ...
, decrying the appointments as a "last-minute worry" about the female vote in the
next spring's election.
Despite the pre-emptive criticism, Cameron promoted many of the women who had been subject to speculation prior to the reshuffle, including
Liz Truss
Mary Elizabeth Truss (born 26 July 1975) is a British politician who briefly served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from September to October 2022. On her fiftieth day in office, she stepped down ...
, who replaced
Owen Paterson
Owen William Paterson (born 24 June 1956) is a British former politician who served as Secretary of State for Northern Ireland from 2010 to 2012 and Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs from 2012 to 2014 under Prime Minist ...
as Environment Secretary and became the youngest female cabinet minister in history.
Cameron also promoted
Nicky Morgan
Nicola Ann Morgan, Baroness Morgan of Cotes, (; born 10 October 1972) is a British politician who served as Secretary of State for Education and Minister for Women and Equalities from 2014 to 2016 and Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, ...
to the full cabinet as Education Secretary, while granting the incumbent employment minister
Esther McVey
Esther Louise McVey (born 24 October 1967) is a British politician and television presenter serving as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Tatton since 2017. A member of the Conservative Party, she served as Minister of State for Housing and Pl ...
and new Leader of the House of Lords,
Baroness Stowell of Beeston the right to attend cabinet meetings. The reshuffle ultimately resulted in five of 17 Conservative full cabinet members being women, and a quarter of the total Conservative ministerial team.
Further controversy arose the day after the reshuffle, when the ''
Daily Mail
The ''Daily Mail'' is a British daily middle-market tabloid newspaper and news websitePeter Wilb"Paul Dacre of the Daily Mail: The man who hates liberal Britain", ''New Statesman'', 19 December 2013 (online version: 2 January 2014) publish ...
'' ran the front-page headline "Thigh-flashing Esther and the battle of the Downing St catwalk", with an accompanying graphic on pages 4 and 5 titled "Esther: Queen of the Downing Street Catwalk", which prominently featured images of McVey, Truss, Morgan and Stowell, as well as newly minted junior ministers
Penny Mordaunt
Penelope Mary Mordaunt (; born 4 March 1973) is a British politician who has been Leader of the House of Commons and Lord President of the Council since September 2022. A member of the Conservative Party, she has been Member of Parliament (MP) ...
,
Amber Rudd
Amber Augusta Rudd (born 1 August 1963) is a British former politician who served as Home Secretary from 2016 to 2018 and Secretary of State for Work and Pensions from 2018 to 2019. She was a Member of Parliament (MP) for Hastings and Rye, fi ...
,
Priti Patel
Priti Sushil Patel (born 29 March 1972) is a British politician who served as Home Secretary from 2019 to 2022. A member of the Conservative Party, she was Secretary of State for International Development from 2016 to 2017. Patel has been the Me ...
,
Anna Soubry
Anna Mary Soubry (; born 7 December 1956) is a British barrister, journalist and former politician who was Member of Parliament (MP) for Broxtowe from 2010 to 2019. Known for her support of pro-European policies, she was originally elected a ...
, and
Claire Perry
Claire Louise Perry O'Neill (' Richens; born 3 April 1964) is a British businesswoman and former politician who is the managing director for climate and energy at the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, having previously served a ...
walking up Downing Street to receive their commissions from Cameron. The headline and graphic were criticised by female politicians from all parties, with former Tory Welsh Secretary
Cheryl Gillan
Dame Cheryl Elise Kendall Gillan (; 21 April 1952 – 4 April 2021) was a British politician who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Chesham and Amersham from 1992 until her death in 2021. A member of the Conservative Party, she served a ...
saying she was "appalled", Liberal Democrat whip
Jenny Willott
Jennifer Nancy Willott OBE (born 29 May 1974) is a British politician. She was the Liberal Democrat Member of Parliament for Cardiff Central from 2005 to 2015. Willott became a junior minister in the Department for Business, Innovation and Ski ...
describing the coverage as "outrageous", and Labour MP
Anne McGuire
Dame Anne Catherine McGuire (' Long; born 26 May 1949) is a Scottish Labour Party politician who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Stirling from 1997 to 2015. She was the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Scotland from 2002 t ...
declaring that it "made
Blair's Babes look positively PC". Despite widespread condemnation of the piece, McVey, the primary focus of it, refused to be drawn into the issue, merely saying that she was "delighted to be in what must be one of the most important jobs".
Controversy over the Leadership of the House of Lords
Controversy erupted on multiple fronts over
Baroness Stowell of Beeston becoming the first
Leader of the House of Lords
The leader of the House of Lords is a member of the Cabinet of the United Kingdom who is responsible for arranging government business in the House of Lords. The post is also the leader of the majority party in the House of Lords who acts as ...
in memory to not be a full member of the cabinet. This was ostensibly to save a seat for
William Hague
William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...
, the
Leader of the House of Commons
The leader of the House of Commons is a minister of the Crown of the Government of the United Kingdom whose main role is organising government business in the House of Commons. The leader is generally a member or attendee of the cabinet of the ...
which is not a role which usually comes with a place in the cabinet.
Labour
Labour or labor may refer to:
* Childbirth, the delivery of a baby
* Labour (human activity), or work
** Manual labour, physical work
** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer
** Organized labour and the labour ...
peers attacked Cameron over the decision, and even figures on the right, such as
Lord Forsyth declared it "vital" that the leader of the Lords carry the authority of a cabinet minister.
On 22 July, Cameron expressed his regret over the situation in a letter to
Lord MacGregor of Pulham Market, the Chairman of the Association of Conservative Peers, saying that the Leader of the Lords "should, as a general rule, always be a full member of the Cabinet" but that "unfortunately it was not possible on this occasion". A later report by the
House of Lords Constitution Committee found that "core part of our constitution that ministers are drawn from the legislature and that the legislature is bicameral. It sits very uneasily with those principles for one House of Parliament to be unrepresented in the full Cabinet".
Labour MPs also attacked the decrease in salary which accompanied the loss of full cabinet status, pointing out that Stowell would be earning £22,000 less per annum than her male predecessor. In response, it was announced that Stowell's pay would be topped up by the Conservative Party.
This in itself stirred controversy, as many believed that receiving payment from the Conservative Party would constitute a conflict of interest in the performance of her duties as Leader of the Lords; Stowell ultimately declined the party's offer to top up her salary.
Sacking of Owen Paterson
The removal of
Owen Paterson
Owen William Paterson (born 24 June 1956) is a British former politician who served as Secretary of State for Northern Ireland from 2010 to 2012 and Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs from 2012 to 2014 under Prime Minist ...
as Environment Secretary after his response to summer flooding and call for a cull of
badger
Badgers are short-legged omnivores in the family Mustelidae (which also includes the otters, wolverines, martens, minks, polecats, weasels, and ferrets). Badgers are a polyphyletic rather than a natural taxonomic grouping, being united b ...
s were criticised
was poorly received by many on the right.
Christopher Booker
Christopher John Penrice Booker (7 October 1937 – 3 July 2019) was an English journalist and author. He was a founder and first editor of the satirical magazine '' Private Eye'' in 1961. From 1990 onward he was a columnist for ''The Sunday T ...
called his removal an "insult to the countryside", and one of Cameron's worst mistakes as leader. Paterson reportedly told Cameron that his sacking was a "big mistake" and would be taken as a "kick in the teeth" by rural Conservative voters likely to defect to the
UK Independence Party
The UK Independence Party (UKIP; ) is a Eurosceptic, right-wing populist political party in the United Kingdom. The party reached its greatest level of success in the mid-2010s, when it gained two members of Parliament and was the largest par ...
, and alleged that he was removed due to pressure from a consortium environmental groups, renewable energy companies, and environmentalist public officials which he described as "the green blob".
In the days after his sacking, Paterson was often seen with
Liam Fox
Liam Fox (born 22 September 1961) is a British politician who served as Secretary of State for International Trade from 2016 to 2019 and Secretary of State for Defence from 2010 to 2011. A member of the Conservative Party, Fox has served as th ...
, the former Defence Secretary tipped in the media for a return to the cabinet,
who was said to have felt "humiliated" by Cameron's offer of a junior position at the
Foreign Office
Foreign may refer to:
Government
* Foreign policy, how a country interacts with other countries
* Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in many countries
** Foreign Office, a department of the UK government
** Foreign office and foreign minister
* Unit ...
during the reshuffle,
prompting fears amongst Cameron's advisers that Paterson and Fox would come to lead opposition to Cameron within the party.
Moving of Michael Gove
Michael Gove
Michael Andrew Gove (; born Graeme Andrew Logan, 26 August 1967) is a British politician serving as Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities and Minister for Intergovernmental Relations since 2021. He has been Member of Parli ...
's move from Education Secretary to Chief Whip, widely perceived as a demotion, came after Conservative campaign chief strategist
Lynton Crosby
Sir Lynton Keith Crosby (born 23 August 1956)''Who's Who in Australia 2015'', ConnectWeb. is an Australian political strategist who has managed election campaigns for right-of-centre parties in several countries.
Crosby has been described as ...
warned Cameron that Gove's brand was "toxic" in polling.
The move was criticised by many on the right, including Gove's wife,
Sarah Vine
Sarah Rosemary Vine (born 16 April 1967) is a British columnist. She has written for the '' Daily Mail'' since 2013. She was previously arts editor at ''The Times''. She was previously married to Conservative MP Michael Gove.
Early life
Sara ...
,
and his special adviser,
Dominic Cummings
Dominic Mckenzie Cummings (born 25 November 1971) is a British political strategist who served as Chief Adviser to British Prime Minister Boris Johnson from 24 July 2019 until Cummings resigned on 13 November 2020.
From 2007 to 2014, he was a ...
, who said the move constituted Cameron's "surrender" to education pressure groups.
Despite the downwards perception of the move, both Gove and Cameron downplayed that it was a demotion, with Cameron saying that the "chief whip is one of the most important jobs in government" and he wanted one of his "big hitters" who had done "extraordinary things for the country" to fill the role. Cameron also pointed to the fact that Gove's brief as Chief Whip would be more expansive than was tradition, with Gove playing a major role in both the government's communications strategy and the Conservative Party's general election planning.
Gove himself declined to call the move a demotion, saying that while it was a "wrench" to leave as Education Secretary, it was "exciting to be given a role at the heart of government".
Appointment of Lord Hill as European Commissioner
The selection of the little known
Jonathan Hill to serve as the United Kingdom's
European Commissioner
A European Commissioner is a member of the 27-member European Commission. Each member within the Commission holds a specific portfolio. The commission is led by the President of the European Commission. In simple terms they are the equivalent ...
was criticised both domestically and on the continent. The position, which fell to Hill as a self described "reluctant conscript", had widely been expected to go to the former Health Secretary,
Andrew Lansley
Andrew David Lansley, Baron Lansley, (born 11 December 1956) is a British Conservative Party (UK), Conservative politician who previously served as Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, Secretary of State for Health and Leader of the H ...
, former chief whip
Andrew Mitchell
Andrew John Bower Mitchell (born 23 March 1956) is a British politician who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Sutton Coldfield since 2001. A member of the Conservative Party, Mitchell was previously the MP for Gedling from 1987 to 199 ...
, retiring universities minister
David Willetts
David Linsay Willetts, Baron Willetts, (born 9 March 1956) is a British politician and life peer. From 1992 to 2015, he was the Member of Parliament (MP) representing the constituency of Havant in Hampshire. He served as Minister of State for ...
, or the former Conservative leader
Michael Howard
Michael Howard, Baron Howard of Lympne (born Michael Hecht; 7 July 1941) is a British politician who served as Leader of the Conservative Party and Leader of the Opposition from November 2003 to December 2005. He previously held cabinet posi ...
.
Hill, who had responded "non, non, non" when asked if he was interested in the job just a month before the reshuffle, did not fit incoming Commission President
Jean-Claude Juncker
Jean-Claude Juncker (; born 9 December 1954) is a Luxembourgish politician who served as the 21st Prime Minister of Luxembourg from 1995 to 2013 and 12th President of the European Commission from 2014 to 2019. He also served as Finance Minister ...
's preference for high-profile or female commissioners, leading to fears that the United Kingdom would receive an insignificant portfolio in retaliation.
Nigel Farage
Nigel Paul Farage (; born 3 April 1964) is a British broadcaster and former politician who was List of UK Independence Party leaders, Leader of the UK Independence Party (UKIP) from 2006 to 2009 and 2010 to 2016 and Brexit Party#Leaders, Lea ...
, the leader of the
UK Independence Party
The UK Independence Party (UKIP; ) is a Eurosceptic, right-wing populist political party in the United Kingdom. The party reached its greatest level of success in the mid-2010s, when it gained two members of Parliament and was the largest par ...
attacked Hill, asking "who are you?" and saying that there "is nothing in Mr Hill's career path to suggest that he is the one to renegotiate radical reform".
Mats Persson, then the director of
Open Europe
Open Europe was a British centre-right eurosceptic policy think tank with offices in London and Brussels, merging with the Policy Exchange think tank in 2020.
Its stated mission was to "conduct rigorous analysis and produce recommendations ...
, also attacked the appointment, saying that the fear of a by-election was allowed to "trump sending the highest profile candidate to Brussels", and that as a result the "chances of the UK securing one of the key portfolios in the next European Commission – internal market, competition or trade – have worsened".
Hill's confirmation hearings before the
European Parliament
The European Parliament (EP) is one of the legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it adopts ...
did not pass without incident. Hill, who was viewed by left-wing MEPs as too close to the
City of London
The City of London is a city, ceremonial county and local government district that contains the historic centre and constitutes, alongside Canary Wharf, the primary central business district (CBD) of London. It constituted most of London fr ...
for the financial portfolio he had been allocated, was forced to appear before a second confirmation hearing, at which he was called "charming but empty". Hill was ultimately confirmed, and served until his resignation after the
2016 United Kingdom European Union membership referendum
The United Kingdom European Union membership referendum, commonly referred to as the EU referendum or the Brexit referendum, took place on 23 June 2016 in the United Kingdom (UK) and Gibraltar to ask the electorate whether the country shoul ...
.
Knighthoods for sacked ministers
Cameron was also attacked by some on the left for awarding knighthoods to three sacked ministers,
Alan Duncan
Sir Alan James Carter Duncan (born 31 March 1957) is a British former Conservative Party politician who served as Minister of State for International Development from 2010 to 2014 and as Minister of State for Europe and the Americas from 201 ...
of the
Department for International Development
, type = Department
, logo = DfID.svg
, logo_width = 180px
, logo_caption =
, picture = File:Admiralty Screen (411824276).jpg
, picture_width = 180px
, picture_caption = Department for International Development (London office) (far right ...
,
Hugh Robertson of the Foreign Office, and
Solicitor General Oliver Heald
Sir Oliver Heald (born 15 December 1954) is a British barrister and Conservative Party politician serving as the Member of Parliament (MP) for North East Hertfordshire, formerly North Hertfordshire, since 1992.
Background
Heald was born in R ...
. Duncan and Robertson were both made
Knights Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George
A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood finds origins in the Gr ...
, while Heald was made a
Knight Bachelor
The title of Knight Bachelor is the basic rank granted to a man who has been knighted by the monarch but not inducted as a member of one of the organised orders of chivalry; it is a part of the British honours system. Knights Bachelor are the ...
. Labour MP
Sarah Champion
Sarah Deborah Champion (born 10 July 1969) is a British Labour Party politician who has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Rotherham since 2012.
Champion studied Psychology at Sheffield University. Before entering Parliament, she ran ...
took particular issue with the fact that Cameron had appointed more men knights than he had women to the full cabinet, saying that the "patronage for the old boys' club shows just how out of touch" Cameron had become. Cameron's appointment of
Kenneth Clarke
Kenneth Harry Clarke, Baron Clarke of Nottingham, (born 2 July 1940), often known as Ken Clarke, is a British politician who served as Home Secretary from 1992 to 1993 and Chancellor of the Exchequer from 1993 to 1997 as well as serving as de ...
, one of the longest serving cabinet members in modern history, to become a
Companion of Honour
The Order of the Companions of Honour is an order of the Commonwealth realms. It was founded on 4 June 1917 by King George V as a reward for outstanding achievements. Founded on the same date as the Order of the British Empire, it is sometimes ...
was not met with criticism, however, and was generally praised, with Labour MP
Stephen Pound
Stephen Pelham Pound (born 3 July 1948) is a British former Labour Party politician who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Ealing North from 1997 to 2019.
Background
His father, Pelham Pendennis Pound (1922–1999) was a BBC sub-editor an ...
drawing a distinction by saying that he had "nothing against long-service medals but using honours to sweeten the pill of dismissal is an abuse". Cameron responded the criticism by saying that he found it "interesting to take a lecture from a party that gave a knighthood to
Fred Goodwin
Frederick Anderson Goodwin FRSE FCIBS (born 17 August 1958) is a Scottish chartered accountant and former banker who was Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) between 2001 and 2009.
From 2000 to 2008, he pre ...
", referring to the disgraced
Royal Bank of Scotland
The Royal Bank of Scotland plc (RBS; gd, Banca Rìoghail na h-Alba) is a major retail and commercial bank in Scotland. It is one of the retail banking subsidiaries of NatWest Group, together with NatWest (in England and Wales) and Ulster Bank ...
executive, knighted under
Tony Blair
Sir Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. He previously served as Leader of th ...
in 2004, who had recently been stripped of the honour.
See also
*
2012 British cabinet reshuffle
*
Premiership of David Cameron
David Cameron's term as the prime minister of the United Kingdom began on 11 May 2010, when he accepted an invitation of Queen Elizabeth II to form a government, succeeding Gordon Brown of the Labour Party, and ended on 13 July 2016 upon hi ...
References
{{David Cameron
Cabinet reshuffles in the United Kingdom
David Cameron
July 2014 events in the United Kingdom
2014 in British politics