Politics

Johnson’s reshuffle throws up jokers

Published

6 years ago

February 20, 2020

IT WAS all about ‘The Saj’.
The shock departure of the former Chancellor from the government only a few weeks before his first Budget surprised media commentators and MPs alike.
The Chancellor of the Exchequer’s ‘did-he-fall/was-he-pushed’ resignation aside, the reshuffle was a return to the traditional way of Cabinet reshuffling Cabinet members. Out with the competent and argumentative and in with a collection of flunkies and stooges who owe everything to their loyalty to Brexit and Boris Johnson.
Julian Smith became Secretary of State for Northern Ireland in July last year. In his brief tenure in that role, he managed to re-establish the Northern Ireland Assembly and a cross-party power-sharing executive after three years of constitutional limbo during its suspension. That is the sort of signal achievement which usually leads to promotion. However, Mr Smith was an advocate of a ‘softer’ Brexit than proposed by Number Ten. He had gone so far to comment, in October last year, a no-deal Brexit would be “a very, very bad idea for Northern Ireland”.
Competent and with a record of achievement in his brief Cabinet tenure, he had to go.
His replacement is former Conservative Party Chair, Brandon Lewis. Ironically, one of the Conservative MPs who broke pairing arrangements at Mr Smith’s direction when the latter was Chief Whip.
The reaction to Julian Smith’s departure was a series of aghast tributes by all sides in Northern Ireland and Mr Lewis’ appointment greeted by the sort of ‘dangerous indifference’, Irish Taoiseach Leo Varadkar suggested was behind his predecessor’s sacking.
Mr Lewis is as loyal as a loyal thing. You tell him what to be loyal to and he’ll be loyal to it. Rather like a cushion, he bears the impression of the last backside to sit on him. He will lead the nodding dog tendency in Cabinet meetings.
The only tension in the Cabinet with him in it will be whether he or Health Secretary Matt Hancock gets the first Boris Bonio after meetings.
There weren’t only high profile departures, though. Liz Truss remains in place as Secretary of State for International Trade. No. Don’t laugh. Ms Truss’ presence at the Cabinet table is a sign of hope and a beacon to others. Her continued tenure in government is evidence that no matter how dimwitted, mediocre or out-of-their-depth a person is, this is a government of opportunity for all. Her presence shows senior backbenchers with talent, intelligence, and ability that their gifts are no substitute for those qualities’ total absence. To new Conservative MPs with room temperature IQs, her example shows that they, too, can aspire to Cabinet status.
The same might be said for Matt Hancock. The Health Secretary, who’s behaviour in the election campaign marked him out as a man to watch – preferably while he sat in a padded cell rocking to himself and murmuring the words ‘forty new hospitals’ over and over – is the only person in the country to take what the Prime Minister says at face value. The incredibly credulous Hancock has chained himself to the wheel of misfortune and will spin every disaster into a triumph with puppy-like devotion. Like a whipped dog will try to make friends with its tormentor, Matt’s loyalty is endless.
The departure of Andrea Leadsom demonstrates that even Boris Johnson thinks a joke can be taken too far. Floundering in every position she ever occupied, it is difficult to conceive that she could have been the leader of her party, and subsequently PM, barely three years ago, Ms Leadsom’s legendarily argumentative nature ushered her to the Cabinet door.
Her replacement at the Department of Business, Energy, Investment and Skills (BEIS) is Ashok Sharma. Mr Sharma’s appointment is interesting. He might be dangerously half as clever as Boris Johnson thinks he is, which means he could run rings round the PM. His ability was rewarded in a particularly cunning way. Accepting a role turned down by a former PM and a former Foreign Secretary, Mr Sharma will coordinate and chair the government’s preparations for the next round of climate change talks, due to take place in Glasgow later this year.
If the conference achieves anything, highly unlikely as the US, China and India will stall any possible progress, the praise will be the government’s and therefore Boris Johnson’s. Like the Sun King, Boris is not only a state but the state. If it all goes the well-known shape of a pear, Mr Sharma gets to take the fall. Rewarding ability with a poisoned chalice: that’s the way of government these days.
Theresa Villiers’ departure from DEFRA and her replacement with George Eustice received a cautious but warm welcome from farming unions and rural organisations. Ms Villiers’ naked enthusiasm for the benefits of free trade and blindness to the consequences of it for UK agriculture did little to instil farmer with any confidence in her to do what was best for the industry. From a farming background himself, Mr Eustice is far better placed to sell any betrayal to those farmers who, free of the EU as they wished, find their businesses going down the pan if/when imports of lower quality and lower price undercut them after December 31 this year.
The Department of Culture Media and Sport (Don’t Care Much, Seriously) has a new Secretary of State in Oliver Dowden. Mr Dowden replaces Nicky Morgan, a minister you couldn’t possibly describe as two-faced as she wouldn’t wear the one she does if she was.
Mr Dowden’s main ministerial achievement in a brief parliamentary career was his replacement by Jonny (‘Did I mention I was in the Army?’) Mercer as a junior flunky in the Cabinet Office. His task is to put into place the Government’s policy of neutering the BBC and trashing public service broadcasting. A PR man before entering parliament and – as a special advisor to David Cameron – a PR man for a PR man, Mr Dowden will have to sell the Government’s plans to dismember the BBC to the public and MPs.
The appointment that caused most comment and concern was Suella Braverman’s promotion to replace Geoffrey Cox QC as Attorney General. Brexiteers hailed Mr Cox’s independence of mind and judgement when he declined to rubber-stamp Theresa May’s proposals for an Irish Backstop as part of her doomed attempts to force a Withdrawal Agreement through Parliament. He also loudly – he doesn’t do quietly – laid into the High Court’s decision that Mr Johnson’s prorogation of Parliament was unlawful. However, Mr Cox is also a person with a deep and abiding respect for the rule of law and the need for courts to act as a check and balance on poorly-made and ill-considered legislation. The growth of Judicial Reviews of governments’ laws can be partly laid at the door of those who prepare legislative measures in haste and then repent at leisure as the Court’s painstakingly explain why they are unenforceable or unlawful. Whatever his flaws as a Government minister, Geoffrey Cox is a proper lawyer with a keen understanding that bad laws and incompetently-prepared legislation are properly subjected to scrutiny by the Courts.
Suella Braverman has no such scruples. An advocate of increasing political vetting of judicial appointments, she also has no evident skills as either an advocate for sound law and sound law-making.
The role of the Attorney General is to advise the government, as impartially as possible in the circumstances, on a range of legal issues arising from its planned legislative programme. Ms Braverman’s appointment is a sign that what Boris Johnson wants most from his law officers is a nodding-dog approach, a readiness to sign-off on any crackpot plan, and knifing the Courts for doing their job properly in a plural democracy in which an overmighty executive needs curbing.
The most rabid of Brexiteers and an appalling media performer whose backside she often confuses with her humerus, Suella Braveman cannot be relied upon to do what’s right but can be relied upon to do what Boris Johnson tells her is right. Otherwise, her main qualification for her new role seems to be the gift of forgetting that she studied at the Sorbonne under the Erasmus programme and had her post-graduate studies in Paris funded by the French embassy. In other words, precisely the sort of exposure to continental education and cultural enrichment this Government is dedicated to ending.
And finally, we come to the new Chancellor. Rishi Sunak’s rise to power is proof that enormous personal wealth, a background as a merchant banker and having a job working for his indescribably wealthy father-in-law. All that might be unfair to Mr Sunak; however, replacing state-educated Sajid Javid with a privileged alumnus of Winchester could be easily interpreted as an attempt to broaden the government’s appeal to distressed billionaires.
Mr Javid’s loaded remarks around the circumstances of his dismissal, ‘no self-respecting minister would continue to serve’ (if ordered to sack his entire team of ministerial advisors) suggests Mr Sunak’s self-respect is in inverse proportion to his self-regard. It is also a sign that Mr Johnson has restored the long-forgotten tradition of the Exchequer as a money chest at the beck-and-call of a prime-ministerial whim. Mr Sunak’s one advantage is that he can scarcely be sacked after the manner of his predecessor’s leaving. At least for as long as he does what he’s told.
The cringe-worthy sight of Mr Johnson’s new Cabinet at its first meeting playing call and response with the class bully suggests that Boris Johnson now has a team he wants. More-or-less malleable office-holders who will do as they are told. Taking back control, it turns out, means an uncontrollable PM.

Business

Pembroke Dock restaurant to close on Christmas Day after £23,000 rates rise

Published

12 hours ago

December 20, 2025

Tom Sinclair

A PEMBROKE DOCK restaurant owner has said she is “devastated” after being forced to close her business on Christmas Day following a projected business rates increase of more than £23,000.

Randalls Restaurant, which operates from The Dolphin Hotel in Pembroke Dock, has been run by Natalie Newton and her family since 1999. Ms Newton took over the business in 2018 after her parents retired, overseeing a major transformation from a traditional pub and bed and breakfast into a hotel and restaurant.

***Chef Ben Randal and fiancée, Natalie Newton who owns the hotel (Image: Dolphin Hotel)***

For the past seven years, she and her fiancée, chef Ben Randall, have worked to build the restaurant’s reputation, offering breakfasts, lunches and evening meals using locally sourced produce where possible, as well as hosting special events including Christmas parties, buffets, afternoon teas and themed dining nights.

However, Ms Newton said she was left with no option but to close the restaurant after discovering that its business rates are expected to rise from around £10,000 to £33,000 from next year.

She said: “It’s a great shame. My father is absolutely devastated – this was his legacy. I took it over and built a really successful restaurant, and now it feels like it’s been taken away.”

Ms Newton said she checked her projected rates bill using the Government’s online calculator and was shocked to see that it had more than trebled. With quieter trading months expected early in the year, she said the increase was simply not sustainable.

“January, February and March are quieter months,” she said. “From April I’d need to find an extra £2,750 every month. Even if I managed it, I’d be working for nothing, and I’m worried I wouldn’t be able to pay my bills and would end up in the red.”

She added: “I’ve made the decision to close straight after Christmas Day. It’s drastic, but I have to keep my head above water and protect everything my parents worked for.”

Ms Newton said the decision had not only affected her family but also the restaurant’s eleven members of staff.

“I’ve invested everything back into this business,” she said. “Every penny the restaurant has made has gone straight back into it. I’ve worked every day, nights and weekends, and I haven’t had Christmas at home for seven years.

“For the last six months I’d look around the restaurant when it was busy and think how lucky we were. People were happy, good food was going out. Now it feels like it’s all been snatched away.”

The Herald has reported extensively on growing concern among Pembrokeshire businesses over sharp increases in business rates following updated valuations, with several town centre traders warning that rising fixed costs are pushing otherwise viable businesses to the brink.

Ms Newton said she intends to focus on running the hotel after Christmas but will miss the restaurant and its customers.

“I’m going to miss everyone,” she said. “I’ve loved building relationships with customers over the years. I just want to thank everyone who believed in Ben and me and supported us.”

Business rates in Wales are due to be updated from April 1, 2026, to reflect current property values. The Welsh Government has said that while many businesses will see their bills fall, others will face increases.

It has announced that any business facing an increase of more than £300 will have the rise phased in over two years rather than being applied in full immediately.

Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Welsh Language Mark Drakeford said previously: “We know businesses have faced significant economic challenges in recent years. This support package will help them manage the transition to updated rates bills while we deliver on our commitment to a fairer rates system.”

Community

Cilgerran school could be discontinued as consultation launched

Published

19 hours ago

December 20, 2025

Bruce Sinclair - Local Democracy Reporter

A CONSULTATION on proposed changes for a north Pembrokeshire school, which attracted a near-400-strong petition in opposition to the council, has been launched.

At its May meeting, Pembrokeshire County Council considered a report of the School Modernisation Working Group which outlined the findings of a review of education provision in the Preseli area.

“In particular, the review considered the extent of surplus school places in the area, set against a significant decline in the pupil population,” the council in its consultation on proposals for discontinuation of Cilgerran Church in Wales Voluntary Controlled School has said.

A later July meeting of the council, following May’s agreed consultation with St David’s Diocese, backed a general consultation to discontinue Cilgerran Church in Wales Voluntary Controlled School, and to establish it as a 3-11 community school.

The consultation was launched on December 16 and runs to January 30.

Hundreds have opposed the proposed changes, with a petition, on the council’s own website opposing the changes recently closed after gaining 391 signatures.

Any petition of between 100 and 499 signatures triggers a debate at one of the council’s Overview and Scrutiny Committees, and any over 500 a debate at full council, meaning this petition will be heard by committee members at a later date.

The proposals for Cilgerran are part of a wide range of potential education changes in the county.

Two petitions, opposing the potential closures of Manorbier and Ysgol Clydau schools, were recently heard at full council and a further petition opposing the potential closure of Stepaside School has recently been launched.

The Cilgerran e-petition, created by Louise Williams, raised concerns including the school could become part of a federation, a loss of permanent head teacher on site, a shared head teacher would have to oversee several schools, loss of funding control and the ability to maintain the school’s current healthy and stable funding, and a loss of commitment to the church, in turn could impact on the school’s and pupils values, beliefs and cultural beliefs.

It said: “Ysgol Cilgerran VC school has strong links with the Church community in Cilgerran and we believe this will have a negative impact on the children who attend the school, the community of Cilgerran and the links between the two.

“We are proud of our school ethos and values which are strengthened by our links with the church. The school has close and strong relationships with our Church in Wales federation governors one of which is also our safeguarding governor.

“Our Church Federation governors work closely with the school and are regular visitors to the school and the children. They provide vital support and guidance to the school and have a positive impact on the Children’s education. We believe these links will be weakened by this proposal to remove our VC status and we believe this is an un-necessary action.”

Community

‘Harrowing’ distress now the norm for unpaid carers in Wales

Published

1 day ago

December 19, 2025

Chris Haines, ICNN Senedd reporter

“HARROWING” levels of distress have become the norm for unpaid carers in Wales, a committee has heard, with charities warning of a support system “set up to fail”.

Kate Cubbage, director of Carers Trust Wales, told the Senedd’s health scrutiny committee: “There are too many carers who are reaching crisis point without any support.”

Ms Cubbage explained that most councils are supporting fewer than 500 carers, warning: “There are really, really high levels of unmet need within our communities.”

She told Senedd Members that staff are receiving trauma training to support their mental health due to the levels of distress they are seeing among carers.

Ms Cubbage pointed to a University of Birmingham study which found an increased suicide risk among unpaid carers akin to that of veterans who have seen active service.

“One in eight carers has made a plan to end their own life,” she said, calling for carers to be specifically considered in the Welsh Government’s suicide prevention strategy.

“One in ten has made an attempt… at a time when the average local authority has support plans for less than 0.5% of the caring population.”

Warning of deepening poverty in Wales, the witness expressed concerns about a 31% poverty rate among carers – “far higher” than the 22% in the wider population.

Ms Cubbage added that young carers miss more than six full school weeks each year, compared with pupils without caring responsibilities who miss nearer two weeks.

Kate Cubbage, director of Carers Trust Wales

She told the health committee: “It’s no wonder young carers are achieving less at school. They are less likely to go on into further and higher education.

“And if they do make it to university, they’re less likely than their peers to actually graduate.”

Reflecting on a personal note, Ms Cubbage, a parent carer, said her autistic son has accessed services from ophthalmology to audiology over the past 16 years.

“I have never once been signposted to anything that would suggest that I am an unpaid carer or that I can access support… That kind of lived experience is really important.”

Rob Simkins, head of policy at Carers Wales, added: “Things are getting worse: anecdotally, we see that through our services but also that’s what the research tells us.”

He pointed to a Carers Wales survey which has shown a “shocking” 53% increase in the number of carers cutting back on food and heating.

Giving evidence on Wednesday December 17, Mr Simkins warned of a 39% increase in the number of carers reporting “bad” or “very bad” mental health since 2023.

“All the evidence that we’re collecting shows that this is going in one direction,” he told the committee, adding: “And that’s the wrong direction. It’s a bleak context.”

Mr Simkins said census data shows about 310,000 unpaid carers in Wales but research indicates the number could be nearer 500,000 – roughly 15% of the population.

He cautioned that charities across the country, including Carers Wales, are seeing real-terms cuts in funding from the Welsh Government every single year.

Mr Simkins warned of a “shocking” lack of data and a system “set up to fail” more than a decade on from the then-Assembly passing the Social Services and Wellbeing (Wales) Act.

Warning some councils cannot quantify how many carers’ assessments they could carry out over 12 months, he asked: “How on earth are you meant to collect data from unpaid carers and plan services if you can’t even figure out how many you can assess?”

Asked about carers’ assessments, he highlighted a lack of capacity within councils as he warned a “pitifully low number of carers go on to get any support at all”.

Greg Thomas, chief executive of Neath Port Talbot Carers Centre, told Senedd Members the voluntary sector is being increasingly asked to plug gaps without necessary funding.

He warned the jam is having to be spread “ever-more thinly”, creating a tension between reaching as many people as possible and not wanting to compromise quality of support.

“We’re not quite saying ‘no’ to people,” he said. “But we’re having to say a qualified ‘yes’ about what we’re able to offer… We’re massively overstretched, massively oversubscribed.”

Mr Thomas told the committee the carers’ centre has the required reach and expertise, concluding: “It’s almost give us the tools and we can do the job.”

If you have been affected by anything in this story, the Samaritans can be contacted for free, 24/7, on 116 123, or by email at [email protected].