"Reshuffles are about policy, personnel and politics, and the PM is under siege in all three areas. The personnel have changed little, with Kemi Badenoch, Greg Hands and Grant Shapps changing responsibilities, but few new faces stepping up. Rishi Sunak's policy priorities of Net Zero and Scientific Innovation are reflected in the reorganisation of departments to address these challenges directly. Politically he has reached out to the right wing of the Conservatives with the appointment of the outspoken Red Wall populist Lee Anderson as Deputy Chair of the Party.
"But this was a mini-reshuffle with no fanfare for the arrivals; it is most of all a reflection of the PM's limited room for manoeuvre whilst colleagues are investigated and predecessors circle him at the wrong end of the opinion polls. Opposition leaders are traditionally advised to do nothing if they are ahead; prime ministers who are behind have no such freedom."
