THIS IS THE MOMENT...

Historically Cabinet Reshuffles take place for a variety of reasons, to make the incumbent PM look good or more dynamic, to get rid of perceived deadwood, out of desperation, etc. As has been hinted at by Boris Johnson few reshuffles can be said to have taken place for another runway at Heathrow, as suggested by the replacement of Justine Greening (as Transport Secretary) who was publically opposed to a third runway at Heathrow (as is / was David Cameron), who has been replaced as transport secretary by Patrick McLoughlin. Greening may well have been, as Friends of the Earth describe, a "victim of intense aviation lobbying over airport expansion”. Some reshuffles go down in history as ‘bloodbaths i.e. Macmillan’s ‘Night of the Long Knives’ others have been compared with rearranging the deckchairs on the Titanic. Cameron’s reshuffle sits firmly between the two, neither of bloodbath nor yet disastrous. The U-turn on the third runway has yet to be announced but it won’t be long coming. So much for this being the ‘greenest government ever’, if anyone wanted a clear indication of how entirely bereft of fresh thinking and new ideas Westminster is - this is it.