(U) BROWN'S GOVERNMENT IN PLACE

UNCLAS LONDON 002534 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS STATE FOR EUR/UBI, INR/EU, EUR/SE E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV UK SUBJECT: (U) BROWN'S GOVERNMENT IN PLACE REF: LONDON 2488 (U) SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED; NOT FOR INTERNET DISTRIBUTION. ¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY: Prime Minister Gordon Brown has moved fast to put his stamp on the UK Government and the results have been positive for his poll ratings and media coverage. The latest Guardian/ICM poll gives Labour the lead (39 percent to 35 percent) over the Conservatives, Labour's first lead since March 2006. Brown has appointed Her Majesty's Government in full, as well as made some significant alterations to the organization of several Cabinet ministries. A complete list of the new sub-cabinet appointments can be found on the website of the Prime Minister's Office (www.pm.gov.uk). Notable structural changes: - The Deputy Prime Minister's Office, the Department of Trade and Industry, and the Department for Education and Skills "cease to exist"; - The Department for Education and Skills has been split between a new Department for Children, Schools and Families; and a new Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills (both headed by Cabinet Ministers); - A Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform, headed by a Cabinet Minister, has been created along with a Business Council for Britain; - A junior minister has been appointed for each of nine regions of England (there were already Cabinet-level posts for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland); and - Two Liberal Democrat peers will work with (not in) the Government in an advisory capacity. END SUMMARY. (U) THE BROWN BOUNCE -------------- ¶2. (U) The Guardian/ICM poll conducted Wednesday evening and Thursday June 27-28 (i.e., just after Brown became Prime Minister) and published Saturday, June 30, gives Labour its first lead over the Conservatives since March 2006, with 39 percent support (up seven points) to the Conservatives' 35 percent (up one point). The Liberal Democrats are down three points at 18 percent. This is Labour's best showing since David Cameron became the Tory leader in 2005. If replicated at a general election, this lead would actually increase Labour's absolute majority in the House of Commons. (U) DEPARTMENTAL REORGANIZATION -------------- ¶3. (SBU) DEPARTMENT FOR CHILDREN, SCHOOLS AND FAMILIES: Prime Minister Gordon Brown issued a Written Ministerial Statement to the House of Commons on June 28 regarding the "Machinery of Government: Departmental Organization." The Statement explained the rationale for replacing the Department for Education and Skills with a Department for Children, Schools and Families and a Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills: Children and families "are the bedrock of our society and "the Government's aim is to ensure that every child gets the best possible start in life." The reorganized departments "seek to strengthen the Government's support for children, young people and families" in light of the "very different challenges that Britain will face in the years ahead," and "to ensure that Britain is equipped to seize the new opportunities of the global economy." The Department for Children, Schools and Families "for the first time" brings "together key aspects of policy affecting children and young people" through age 19 and "will take forward the Government's strategy for ending child poverty." It will work closely with other departments, promoting health, sport and young people's contributions to communities, preventing youth offending (including drug use), and addressing youth homelessness. Given the emphasis Brown is placing in his initial public comments on improving UK education and building skills at an early age, it is not surprising that Brown picked his closest confidante and right-hand man, Ed Balls MP, to run this new department. ¶4. (U) DEPARTMENT FOR INNOVATION, UNIVERSITIES AND SKILLS (DIUS): To compete successfully in the globalized economy, Brown has articulated a long-term vision of making Britain "one of the best places in the world for science, research and innovation, and to deliver the ambition of a world-class skills base." The new DIUS will assume responsibility (from what was the Department of Trade and Industry) for science and innovation, working to expand "high-end graduate skills" and raise "the skills of the wider adult work force including those currently unskilled." ¶5. (U) DEPARTMENT FOR BUSINESS, ENTERPRISE AND REGULATORY REFORM (DBERR): This new department "will assume from the (abolished) Department of Trade and Industry, policy responsibility for productivity, business relations, energy, competition and consumer policy, corporate law, employment regulation, and working closely with the Department for Communities and Local Government making sustainable improvements in the economic performance of all English regions. The Department will have joint responsibility with the Department for International Development on trade policy, and with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office on trade promotion." "A key priority will be its cross-Government role in promoting better regulation across the business, public and voluntary sectors." It will "provide support for the new Business Council" (see below). ¶6. (U) BUSINESS COUNCIL FOR BRITAIN: This new Council comprising "senior business leaders from a range of sectors" will "assist the Government in putting in place the right strategy to promote the long-term health of the UK economy." The membership of the Council (also available at the Office of the Prime Minister's website) includes chief executive officers from 15 leading UK-based businesses, such as Virgin Group, Tesco Rolls Royce, British Petroleum, and Vodafone. It will be chaired by Mervyn Davies of the Standard Chartered Bank. It will "provide clear, independent advice on the reform priorities to enable business to compete in the global economy." It will meet twice a year and report to the Government and Parliament. The chair will be "a senior business person." The Prime Minister and Secretaries of State (i.e., Cabinet members) of the main economic departments will attend meetings at the invitation of the Council. "Where issues are particularly important, the Council will have the power to establish Special Commissions to make recommendations for reform." (U) MINISTERS FOR REGIONS OF ENGLAND -------------- ¶7. (SBU) Perhaps the most politically sensitive feature of Brown's reorganization is the appointment of sub-Cabinet-level ministers for England, one each for nine English regions (Northeast, Northwest, Yorkshire and Humberside, East Midlands, West Midlands, East of England, London, Southeast, and Southwest). Brown wants to give a bigger voice to the regions, consistent with his vision of devolving governmental powers closer to the governed. There have long been Cabinet-level posts for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, but England, which has five times their combined population, has no equivalent to the devolved parliaments and Cabinet executives of the three "Celtic nations"; instead, England is ruled directly by the UK Parliament ("Westminster") and the UK Government (HMG, a.k.a. "Whitehall"). In recent years, there have been grumbling within England that it is being given short shrift, in terms of voice within the HMG, compared to the other nations within the UK. When Tony Blair's Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott, however, proposed a pilot regional parliament for northeastern England several years ago, voters rejected it as a costly bureaucracy. Brown has yet to flesh out how he intends to proceed beyond these nine ministers, but he knows the issue of recognizing English concerns about their lack of influence compared to their Welsh and Scottish countrymen, is a sensitive issue, especially for Brown, a Scot representing a Scottish parliamentary constituency yet running the entire UK. (U) "ALL THE TALENTS" -------------- ¶8. (SBU) Brown had pledged to form "a Government of all the talents," and his appointments demonstrated an effort to reach out beyond traditional Labour figures: - LIB DEMS: While former Liberal Democrat leader Lord Ashdown turned down an offer to be Northern Ireland secretary (and Lib Dem leader Sir Menzies Campbell forbade his party-members from joining the Government),two Liberal Democrat peers have agreed to serve as advisers: Lord Lester of Herne Hill QC will "advise the Secretary of State for Justice on aspects of constitutional reform" and Baroness Neuberger - a rabbi - "will work with the Prime Minister, the Government and the voluntary sector to champion volunteering." - NEW PEERS: All members of HMG must be members of one or the other of the Houses of Parliament. Five highly-qualified individuals from outside politics will receive peerages in order to join Brown's Government (all in sub-Cabinet positions): -- Shriti Vadera, a member of Brown's Council of Economic Advisers when he was Chancellor, will be a minister in the Department for International Development. That Department is clearly being beefed up: It now has three junior ministers instead of one. Vadera has been a close advisor to Brown and her appointment to the Department for International Development reflects Brown's interest in putting international development -- especially in Africa and the Middle East -- at the center of his foreign policy. -- Professor Sir Ara Darzi, a surgeon, will be a minister in the Department of Health, responsible for patient care. -- Admiral Sir Alan West, a former Royal Navy chief, will be security minister in the Home Office. -- Sir Digby Jones, former head of the Confederation of British Industry, will be trade minister reporting jointly to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform. -- Sir Mark Malloch Brown, former Deputy Secretary General of the United Nations, will be Minister for Africa, Asia and the UN in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. - OTHER APPOINTMENTS: Joan Ryan MP becomes Special Representative to Cyprus and a member of the Privy Council. Former Metropolitan Police Commissioner Lord Stevens of Kirkwhelpington, who had been courted by the Conservatives, will be "the Prime Minister's Senior Adviser on International Security Issues." Comment: Press Likes What It Sees Thus Far -------------- ¶9. (SBU) UK media response has on the whole been positive about Brown's Cabinet appointments and the governmental restructuring he has initiated. Until this past weekend's aborted car bomb attacks drove comment about the new Cabinet off the front pages, initial editorial reaction, even from papers hostile to Labour, had been favorable, with most observers agreeing that Brown's cabinet was a mixture of new talent and "steady hands." The appointment of Jacqui Smith as Home Secretary sparked some questions about her experience to take on the high profile job, but her performance in the days following the bomb attacks has earned her -- thus far -- uniform praise. ¶10. (SBU) Brown's initial positive press has grown only more favorable in the immediate aftermath of the car bomb attacks. Even opposition leaders, such as Liberal Democratic Spokesperson Nick Clegg, have been praising Brown's initial response to the terrorist attacks: "I detect a measured tone, which I think is a good thing and certainly a significant departure from the somewhat breathless way in which Tony Blair always used to rush to try to make, frankly, political points on the back of these events." The Mirror summed up most press comment: Brown has been "commendably cool in this crisis, admirably rising to the biggest challenge of his leadership." Visit London's Classified Website: http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/eur/london/index. cfm TUTTLE