Cicero Policy Briefer

Issue 14, July 2007

The Future’s Brown: Notes on the new Government

By James Allen

Last week, amidst much theatre and emotion, Tony Blair finally left office. Announcing that he will be appointed as a Middle East peace envoy, he stepped down as an MP with immediate effect. The temptation is to dwell on the last 10 years, but incoming Prime Minister Gordon Brown has sent out a clear signal that he will preside over a very different sort of government—and he is anxious to make an immediate impact.

The series of announcements on his Cabinet brought some expected changes, notably Alistair Darling’s appointment as Chancellor and key promotions for Ed Balls and Yvette Cooper. Promotions too, have come for key allies Douglas Alexander, who moves to International Development, and Jack Straw, who ran Brown’s leadership campaign and who is now Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice.

Brown has made some bold decisions: the appointment of the relatively youthful David Miliband to the Foreign Office and Jacqui Smith’s big promotion to the Home Office. Smith inherits all of the problems at the Home Office that have proved so difficult to solve. After a strong track record in government and having narrowly missed out on winning the Labour Deputy Leadership election, Alan Johnson moves from Education to Health, a key post as this field will form a vital political battleground in the run-up to the next election. Labour has lost its historic poll lead over the Tories in health, despite high levels of investment and reduced waiting lists, and will need to quickly and decisively win back the initiative.

Peter Hain has a solid ministerial record, but his appointment to the Department for Work and Pensions, where he replaces John Hutton (who moves to the new Department for Business and Enterprise) will come as a surprise to many. Hain will be tasked with taking through crucially important pensions legislation, and Labour MPs are likely to look for an early commitment on the promised re-indexing of pensions to earnings.

There have been changes to the machinery of government as well as changes in personnel. The Department for Education and Skills has been disbanded, with the creation of two new Departments—one focused on children, young people and pre-19 education (under Ed Balls) and the other on universities, skills and innovation (under John Denham, who returns to government after resigning over the Iraq war in 2003). This is a reflection of the importance of the skills agenda to Brown: he is convinced, and rightly so, that increased skill levels will be central to Britain’s future competitiveness and economic success.

Having been one of the two key figures who have dominated and reshaped British politics over the past decade, Brown is now striking out on his own and is determined to leave his mark on British politics. The face of government has been changed substantially in Brown’s first few days in office. The implications for policy are as yet unclear, but it will be fascinating to watch these developments unfold over the coming weeks and months.

James Allen can be contacted on +44 (0)20 7665 9540 or click here to email.

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