Five political lessons of the week

This week has been dominated by the Labour ‘revenge reshuffle’ mainly because it seemed to take all week. Whilst all the talk beforehand, even before Christmas, had been of those who had disagreed with Corbyn over Syria and Trident being dropped from the Shadow Cabinet, the reality turned out to be very different. Two shadow ministers were sacked, one real move, one promotion and some changes in junior positions. The resignation of three MPs from junior positions in the Shadow Cabinet did cause some minor disturbance. But there seems to be more of a fuss brewing in how much orchestration the BBC was involved in with one of the resignations, Stephen Doughty MP, who made his announcement live on the Daily Politics. Corbyn supporters are apoplectic with rage and the BBC is having to defend itself. The Conservative Party seem quite happy…

Whether changing the positions of two Shadow Secretaries of State counts as a ‘reshuffle’, rather than just a ‘couple of moves’, is not clear. On the BBC politics page stories about the reshuffle were ‘most popular’ every day from Sunday to Wednesday.

So what can we learn from the political news this week?

1. Deliver on the briefings – either the ‘new politics’ of Jeremy Corbyn doesn’t play ball with the media agenda or it was a shambles. There is no doubt that the reshuffle divided opinion. What is also clear is that this will not be the last reshuffle of Corbyn’s time as leader. This will though, in all likelihood, be the team that takes the party through to May’s election. There could well be further changes after this time.
2. Beware of Twitter – Labour MPs and some leading Corbyn supporters took to Twitter to voice their views of the reshuffle, the resignations, the BBC and politics generally. Michael Dugher MP tweeted the news that he had been sacked from his role at Culture, Media and Sport. Paul Flynn MP celebrated the ‘departure of lightweights’ and talked of a ‘revolt of unreformed Blairites’. Ian Austin MP called the sacking of Pat McFadden MP ‘vindictive and stupid’. All comrades together, then… And it doesn’t help if tweets or blog posts are deleted they have a habit of sticking around.
3. Let the European battle commence… well once the deal has been struck. The PM this week signalled that his Cabinet Ministers would be free to campaign for or against continued EU membership but only once he been able to strike a deal. The news will have surprised few but it does not, of course, apply to those not currently inside the Cabinet. Hello, Boris!
4. Economic woes – the Chancellor has warned of a ‘dangerous cocktail’. This was not his comments on the latest medical advice on alcohol limits but on the economic risks facing Britain. In a rather downbeat assessment he warned of a tough year to come but got some retaliation in first by saying that the expected rise in interest rates was the sign of a strong economy.
5. The (non) assassination of Nigel Farage – despite earlier media reports, Nigel Farage has clarified that there was no attempt made on his life and that he should never have talked to French journalists about the incident. The wheel came off his Volvo while he was driving on a motorway in France. Whether the wheels have fallen off his party was not part of his clarification.