Cabinet unshuffle

There’s an interesting example in The Times about PM/Cab relations that I’ll be using when covering this topic later in the academic year.

It’s the economy, stupid!

The Politics Blog has taken on something of a US Politics slant, but in its defence it is a process of its contributors following not just their interests, but paralleling what they are doing in the classroom. You may be aware that blogs with a different orientation will be up on the T2u site soon, and hopefully that will help satisfy demand. But in the short term I would draw your attention to an excellent piece by the Indy’s Hamish McRae. Students often ask about whether politics or economics is more important in shaping world events, and that’s a tricky one to answer in absolute terms. At the moment, the economy is certainly driving politics. It is the downturn in the economy that have changed Gordon Brown’s fortunes, and the anger over MPs’ expenses is a manifestation of the inability of government to keep to its ridiculous end to boom and bust promise. The status of the economy also determines the rather puerile debate going on at the minute between the two main parties over projected spending beyond the end of this Parliament. The fact is that no one knows for sure how much money will be in Treasury coffers and politicians are obviously too scared to say as much.

AS last minute updates

I’m a Cabinet minister get me out of here!  She fell before she was pushed.  Is this the most desperate act in the dying days of the Labour government?  You decide!

AS revision: PM power

Ben Franklin is reported to have said that two things are certain in life, death and taxes.  We could add a further certainty: if a PM/Cab questions comes up in AS exams it will be the most popular response.  Here is a quick note about GB.

AS revision: MPs’ expenses

I’ve had a few questions from my groups about the significance of recent events in Parliament and how important it is that they write about it in the forthcoming exams.

Brown and the first PM

Nick Robinson has written an excellent blog piece about comparisons between the first ever Prime Minister and the current one.  Details of his related BBC Radio4 programme are here as well. 

An hour is a long time in politics

It has been a momentous week as the global financial system is in crisis.  Here’s a fascinating article in the Guardian recalling the last seven days at the heart of the political machine.

It starts:

‘Shortly before 8.00am on Wednesday Gordon Brown and a group of aides swept through a secure passage in Downing Street.

As armed police held open glass doors, which normally screen visitors, Brown hurried along the link between No 10 and the Cabinet Office and into Britain’s answer to the White House’s “situation room”.

Minutes after announcing that he would gamble £500bn to save Britain’s banking industry from collapse, Brown was heading into the government’s Cobra room to chair a meeting of his economic war cabinet.’

Read the full article here

Media Monday: the Cabinet reshuffle

The big story of the week has been of course Gordon Brown’s Cabinet reshuffle.  A classic AS question asks what factors a PM considers when appointing their Cabinet.  In our Media Monday sessions we have been examining which appointments fit into the respective traditional explanations

McRae on how Brown blew it

There’s a great article by Hamish McRae in today’s Independent on Gordon Brown’s record of economic management.  It would serve as an excellent introduction to anyone studying political economy, or as part of the UK issues course for Edexcel.  As McRae states, echoing what the PM said at yesterday’s speech in Manchester, politicians are more or less powerles in the face of global economic forces.  But if Brown was happy to take credit for the long period of economic growth ("no return to boom and bust” etc) then he must accept some of the blame for when things have gone wrong.

See the article here

Wipeout!

Today’s pick of the papers is a feature in the Observer reporting on a poll conducted by PoliticsHome.com predicting that the number of Labour MPs could be cut by half at the next election