Brown's Cabinet--Who stays, who goes?

[matgb]

Righty ho--I said I was going to do this, but, y'know, life got in the way. So, of the current Cabinet, Blair and Prescott are retiring, and Reid says he doesn't want another cabinet job. Leaving a huge list of other people, of varying degrees of talent. Some of them I have a grudging respsct for, some I think are crap, some inspire intense

Comments

[caramel_betty]

So, of the current Cabinet, Blair and Prescott are retiring, and Reid says he doesn't want another cabinet job.

Lord Goldsmith has just gone as Attorney General too. And even though he's not actually a Cabinet member, he attended Cabinet regularly.

[matgb]

Yeah, I decided not to list the people who aren't technically ministers. I suspected he'd go anyway, Brown'll want to distance himself from any potential scandal regardless.

[caramel_betty]

It also helps if the attorney general does have to decide on any cash-for-peerages prosecutions. Having Lord Goldsmith in charge of it (in theory, even if it is delegated to someone else) would just be a recipe for stupidity, so having him out of the way would help a lot.

[matgb]

That's also very true. Hmm, that might make another interesting topic for a poll; is Blair going to get charged?

[caramel_betty]

To be honest, I doubt it. However, they need someone else as AG to be able to make a halfway-convincing show that it's been impartially decided. (It doesn't matter whether it has or not - it's the presentation that matters here. An entirely independent decision overseen by Goldsmith just simply can't work.)

There may be a prosecution for someone like Levy or Turner over allegations of coverups and perverting the course of justice. In the mind of the public, it'd be a cash for peerages prosecution (even though it wouldn't be), and so satisfy the need for blood.

I think Brown would want something. Just not something huge. The problem is, if Blair gets prosecuted, you just know that someone will try to call Brown as a witness. ("But didn't you speak to Mr Tony every day?") Or a tabloid will make a thing about it if it doesn't happen. Levy or Turner or someone, less of a problem - they worked for Mr Tony.