Andy Burnham becomes prime minister on Monday (20 July) and at that point we will learn the make-up of the new Cabinet. There has been plenty of jockeying for position among existing ministers and ambitious backbenchers. Who will be chancellor? What will happen to Ed? What about Shabana, or Yvette? Rachel is surely for the chop? Louise and Anneliese are clearly on the up. As the rumours have flown, there has been the occasional suggestion that Douglas Alexander could be replaced as Scottish Secretary. Now, if Burnham has a mind to promote him, I could see the point. But if not, I would argue strongly that he should be left to get on with the job.
There are a number of reasons for this, which I’ll come to. First, it’s worth admitting that Alexander is not universally popular among his Scottish colleagues. His critics accuse him of being arrogant and overly brusque at times, especially to underlings. He is blamed by some for Scottish Labour’s dreadful performance in the recent Holyrood election, a campaign of which he was a key architect.
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