Prime ministers aren’t supposed to engage in reshuffle speculation. Once they answer one question about a reshuffle, not only have they admitted it is going to happen, they invite a whole load of others.
But David Cameron seems to have been sufficiently spooked by recent speculation surrounding his chancellor that he felt moved to say the following to Sky’s Kay Burley:
KB: The economy will pick up, and George Osborne, his job will be safe?
DC: George Osborne is doing an excellent job in very difficult circumstances and he has my full support in going on and doing that job.
KB: And he’ll still be the chancellor at the next election?
DC: Not going anywhere.
KB: So he will be the chancellor at the next election?
DC: He’s not going anywhere.
KB: So he will be the chancellor at the next election?
DC: Yes!
KB: What about Jeremy Hunt? He has delivered the Olympics…
DC: Well I don’t want to… If you’re going to try and go through a sort of reshuffle bingo… I’m going to leave it at that. Self-evidently, you can see from this [the Olympic park] that Jeremy Hunt and the department of culture, media and sport have done a very good job.
Few commentators thought Osborne would go: apart from anything else, removing him would look like admitting the government’s economic programme was failing. But the refusal to give the same clear answer about Hunt as Osborne will be interpreted as an ominous sign for the culture secretary.
Jim Pickard
Kiran Stacey