https://arab.news/nk5wv
During the 2008 global financial turmoil, Rahm Emanuel, former US President Barack Obama’s chief of staff, said: “Never let a crisis go to waste.” This advice was seized on by UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer last week when he carried out his first major ministerial reshuffle ahead of the UK budget in November.
The change of Cabinet was driven by the resignation of Deputy PM Angela Rayner after an ethics inquiry found that she breached the UK ministerial code by underpaying around £40,000 ($54,000) in tax during a recent property purchase.
Faced with this political shock, Starmer decided that the best form of defense was offense and launched a wide-ranging reshuffle. This resulted in the appointment of a new deputy PM, David Lammy, and new holders of two of the so-called great offices of state, with Yvette Cooper as foreign secretary and Shabana Mahmood as home secretary.
Beyond this, there has been a wider ministerial shakeup. Finance Minister Rachel Reeves and Defense Secretary John Healey were the only Cabinet ministers to retain their portfolios. This reflects the importance of their roles within this government, with the political fate of Reeves, in particular, increasingly tied to that of Starmer.
