Shuffle

AT the time of writing there is only one political story — the government reshuffle.

 The changes have been extensive. More than 20 ministers replaced. Some have speculated that a driving force behind the changes is ideological — for example replacing the left-leaning Ken Clarke at Justice with the firmer right wing touch of Chris Grayling — a message that the government wishes to tighten up on the deportation of terrorists and to take a more robust approach towards the European Convention on Human Rights.

Others will see a change in the gender mix. While at the Cabinet level, there have been two in two out for the women, lower down there has been a disproportionate level of female appointments with some good talent coming through.

To me the main story is that it is about something more important – about economic growth.

A couple of months ago I published an article on this subject calling for a number of radical changes in order to get growth going. I mention this because it sets out some of the actions that the government is possibly about to roll out.

For example the acceleration of house building and infrastructure projects. High also on my list is the stimulation of the economy through a stronger reduction in public expenditure accompanied by tax cuts to encourage businesses to take on more staff. You can read my piece at http://conservativehome.blogs.com/platform/2012/08/me-stride-mp.html">http://conservativehome.blogs.com/platform/2012/08/me-stride-mp.html

So what happened to me in all this? Well, I remain as the Parliamentary Private Secretary to John Hayes MP but John has now moved to the Department for Energy and Climate Change. He and I will now be looking at one of the greatest challenges facing our country – how to square economic growth with the climate change agenda whilst ensuring that we keep the lights on.