Brown's First Cabinet

So, Gordon Brown's first cabinet (of all the talents!!) is as follows:-

General comments - a lack of serious female politicians in the Cabinet - surely he could have promoted a few more women from the backbenches or is there a dearth of talent on the Labour benches?

No Ministry for the Nations and Regions - shame!

Chancellor: Alistair Darling - hardly earth shattering news.

Home Secretary: Jacqui Smith - first female Home Secretary, will have to get to grips with two of the most sensitive issues in British Politics - counter-terrorism and immigration. As Chief Whip, she apparently handled the difficult transition from Blair to Brown quite well and has been rewarded with one of the three great offices of state.

Foreign Secretary: David Miliband - youngest Foreign Secretary for thirty years (Where's Margaret Beckett going then - Chair of the Intelligence Committee?)

Education: Ed Balls - one of Brown's closest allies - expected to have a big job - where's Mrs Balls (Yvette Cooper) - has she been left out because of her handling of the HIPs as Housing Minister in the previous government? No - she is still Housing Minister (attending Cabinet when necessary).

Higher Education: John Denham (highly regarded former Home Affairs Select Committee Chair)

Health: Alan Johnson (good move and rewarded for a good showing in the Deputy Leadership Contest - will hopefully restore morale among NHS staff after Patricia Hewitt's tenure.

Transport: Ruth Kelly (hardly the Winston Churchill of her generation).

Trade & Industry: John Hutton (what could an arch-Blairite hope for other than a down-scaled DTI)

Attorney General: Baroness Scotland (I thought that Patricia Scotland would be Leader in the Lords).

Communities & Local Government: Hazel Blears (I would suggest that she has only been kept to maintain the gender balance).

Chairman of the Labour Party: Harriet Harman

Chief Whip Commons: Geoff Hoon (Chief Whip, Lords - Lord Grocott - should be good)

Environment: Hilary Benn (a horizontal move? I thought he would get promotion after his time at DFID but perhaps GB felt that he couldn't really reward HB for relative failure in the Deputy Leadership election.)

Justice: Jack Straw (replaces the Chief Flatmate, Lord Falconer) Rewarded for being Coronation Coordinator.

Work & Pensions & Wales: Peter Hain - a promotion for Hain and he retains the Wales office. I'll be working with the DWP quite a bit in my new role with EDS. No more posts about Peter Hain then. Shame. I wonder what he'll make of the Red-Green deal in the Assembly. I'll see if I can get the inside track.

Leader of the House of Commons: Harriet Harman (also Minister for Women)

DCMS: James Purnell - expected promotion (Tessa Jowell - Olympics Minister)

Northern Ireland: Shaun Woodward - Tory defector rewarded for his betrayal.

Leader of the Lords: Baroness Ashton - Don't know a great deal about Baroness Ashton.

International Development: Douglas Alexander - a beefed up department for DA including international trade. Also Labour Election Coordinator.

Defence: Des Browne (& Scottish Secretary) - I expected DB to move. I'll be working with his department closely too so can't say too much. With protracted wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, this will prove to be a difficult job - if Scotland has been grouped with this big department, is it a non-job?

Chief Secretary to the Treasury: Andy Burnham - expected promotion (no job for Stephen Timms?)

Social Exclusion & Cabinet Office: Ed Miliband - expected promotion for an old Treasury man (younger bro of David.)