Latest news with #CabinetReshuffle
Daily Mail
3 days ago
- Politics
- Daily Mail
Aides urge the Prime Minister to axe 'meddling' law chief in autumn reshuffle
Attorney General Lord Hermer should be sacked in the next Cabinet reshuffle because he has become a liability to the Government, senior No 10 aides believe. Lord Hermer – parachuted into his plum job as the country's most senior law officer at the insistence of his friend Sir Keir Starmer – has infuriated the Prime Minister's officials with his 'meddling'. He has attempted to limit the scope of Britain's military involvements in the Middle East and granted himself an effective 'veto' over Government decisions. Earlier this year he was forced to apologise for comparing calls to quit the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR) with the early days of Nazi Germany. It comes as Sir Keir is planning a 'summer shore-up' operation by restructuring No 10 and planning for a reshuffle in the autumn after a bruising first year in power. Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy and Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson are also at risk in the reshuffle. A source said of Lord Hermer, who was also instrumental in the decision to hand the Chagos Islands to Mauritius: 'They bloody hate him in here [No 10]. Lord Hermer – parachuted into his plum job as the country's most senior law officer at the insistence of his friend Sir Keir Starmer (pictured) – has infuriated the Prime Minister's officials with his 'meddling' 'It seems there is no problem which can't be made worse by a human rights barrister whose name ends in "mer". The question is whether Keir will protect him.' Ministers have pleaded with MPs who expect to serve only one term in the Commons to stop rebelling. At a meeting of the Parliamentary Labour Party last Monday Health Secretary Wes Streeting urged them not to write off their seats – saying he had shown it is possible to win against the odds. A source in the room said he told MPs: 'I've heard some Labour MPs saying they're only going to be a one-term MP. 'Take it from me, someone who bucked the trend to win a marginal seat off the Tories in 2015, bucked the trend in 2017, 2019, and then bucked the trend in the other direction in 2024, there's a long way to go.' Last summer Mr Streeting narrowly managed to hold on to his seat of Ilford North by 528 votes. New polling has shown Labour's decision to give the vote to 16 and 17-year-olds puts him at risk of wipeout at the next election. The Health Secretary's pep talk came after another Cabinet minister told the MoS it is 'not on' that Labour MPs are assuming they will only be there for one term, and can therefore do what they like – as they praised 'necessary' action over welfare rebels. 'It's becoming a nightmare for the whips,' the source said. Another added: 'They can see the polls, and know they only managed to get in last year in a landslide.' A Labour MP furious with rebel colleagues said: 'We were elected on a Labour banner. We are there for the team, it is not about us. 'If you have issues with the leadership, you deal with them internally. You have to respect party discipline.' As part of his 'summer shore-up' Sir Keir is said to be planning to create a 'Department for Downing Street', which would see a senior civil servant appointed to a lead role and with other officials drafted in to try to improve the Prime Minister's ability to 'drive through change' in Whitehall. It has left Sir Keir open to accusations of 'Presidential' delusions.
CNA
08-07-2025
- Business
- CNA
Better integrated services, coordination by agencies, career growth priorities for public service: Chan Chun Sing
SINGAPORE: More seamless and integrated services for citizens, better coordination across government agencies, and career development for public servants are key priorities of Singapore's public service moving forward, said Coordinating Minister for Public Services Chan Chun Sing on Tuesday (Jul 8). Speaking at the opening of this year's Public Service Festival at One Punggol, Mr Chan said the public service now faces tighter constraints on manpower, budget and carbon emissions, alongside rising public expectations and intensifying global competition. 'As the Coordinating Minister for Public Services, my priority is to help build a public service where agencies come together, facilitate trade-offs and ensure timely decisions that translate into better experiences for both citizens and businesses,' said Mr Chan, who is also defence minister. He was one of three coordinating ministers appointed by Prime Minister Lawrence Wong in the latest Cabinet reshuffle in May this year. Mr Chan added that his personal key performance indicator is not the number of projects coordinated across public agencies, but instead how well everyone can adopt the whole-of-government approach and think beyond individual agencies. 'The less I need to intervene to coordinate, the prouder I am of our public service,' said Mr Chan. On Tuesday, Mr Chan also presented 140 Public Sector Transformation awards to agencies and officers who have demonstrated exemplary efforts in service delivery, innovation and developing themselves and their teams. INNOVATION AND COORDINATION In his speech, Mr Chan emphasised the need for the public service to provide citizens with more seamless and integrated service as needs become more complex and interlinked. He cited the example of someone visiting a doctor, whether in public or private practice. "Nobody enjoys going to the doctor and having to be asked the same question over and over again. Everyone expects to tell the doctor once, and the records will be there to be shared across different agencies. And that is the same standards we expect across all agencies," he said. One example of an integrated solution is ServiceSG, which brings together 600 services from over 25 agencies under one roof, eliminating the need for citizens to make multiple visits to different agencies. Businesses have also benefited from platforms like GoBusiness, which lets businesses apply for licences seamlessly, while the Municipal Services Office coordinates responses to estate maintenance issues raised by residents, said Mr Chan. Another priority of the public service is optimising resources at the whole-of-government level, said Mr Chan. He cited the challenges in building integrated hubs like One Punggol and the Our Tampines Hub. There are typically many different considerations at play, including budget allocation and land use, but they are ultimately more efficient in the long run, he said. DEVELOPING PEOPLE AND PROCESSES Mr Chan also shared that a Career Fitness Movement was being launched to help public officers further their careers. A new series of training programmes will be launched from this month to equip all individual officers with the skills and mindset to navigate across different career life stages, he said. To build stronger leadership teams, the public service is scaling up the use of 360 feedback, and also bringing together officers with deep domain expertise and those with broad policy experience to create diverse teams. 'This intentional mixing of perspectives helps us spot blind spots and develop more robust solutions,' said Mr Chan. Experienced public officers will also be equipped with foundational career coaching skills and tools to provide personalised guidance to fellow officers at every career stage, added Mr Chan. Officers will also have better ownership of their own development and careers, through new systems and processes, said Mr Chan. For instance, the One Talent Gateway platform will be scaled to most of the public service by the end of this year. The platform helps officers identify their competency gaps and explore career development opportunities, including beyond the public service. 'Last year alone, over 5,000 officers participated in short-term attachments, gigs, and job rotations. Another 1,200 officers developed skills while doing good through the Public Service For Good movement,' said Mr Chan. These efforts ensure that Singapore's public service 'remains dynamic, resilient, and ready for tomorrow's challenges', he said. Emphasising the role individuals play in transforming organisations, Mr Chan said that leaders must create environments where innovation flourishes and teams thrive. "I hope all our leaders and supervisors will embrace this spirit, and I hope that we will also embrace the leadership opportunity for us to take care of our people and to help them grow in their roles, individually in the agencies and collectively as a whole of government," said Mr Chan. TODAY'S CHALLENGES Mr Chan noted that among the key challenges moving forward is tightening constraints in manpower, budget and carbon emissions. By 2030, one in four Singaporeans will be over 65, up from one in 40 in 1965, he said. 'This ageing will more than triple our healthcare spending from what we spent just 10 years ago in 2015, and this will tighten our fiscal space considerably,' he said. Climate change has also introduced carbon budget as a new constraint to manage, and these interconnected limitations need holistic solutions, said Mr Chan. Public expectations are also rising today, he said. 'I'm quite sure if we flip up our phones to order a meal through one of the delivery platforms, we will be able to do so within a few minutes. This is what Singaporeans have got used to," said Mr Chan. "This is what they have achieved in the commercial sector. And when Singaporeans transact with the government and when Singaporeans use government services, they expect no less, if not better." Mr Chan added that Singaporeans these days also want to be partners in shaping policy solutions. The minister noted that the Singapore public service will be benchmarked not just by how well it has done compared to the past, but also how well it performs compared to other countries. "We must also be honest with ourselves that there are many jurisdictions in different fields that have perhaps overtaken us in certain areas, and there are many things that we can learn from them," he said. He cited the examples of Estonia becoming the first country to fully digitise its government services, and China serving its more than a billion citizens with artificial intelligence-powered services. Warning against complacency, Mr Chan said the challenges also serve as calls to action to continue with what has been done well, while improving to stay ahead of the competition.
Telegraph
04-07-2025
- Politics
- Telegraph
Starmer has six months to save his premiership, warns Labour peer
Sir Keir Starmer has six months to save his premiership, an influential Labour peer has warned. Lord Glasman, the founder of the socially conservative 'Blue Labour' movement, said that 'we are going to find out in the next six months' whether the Prime Minister 'has got it or not'. The peer said it would be possible to reach a final verdict on Sir Keir after the summer once the premier has made decisions on a number of big issues like a potential Cabinet reshuffle and the small boats crisis. He made the comments as Sir Keir marks his one-year anniversary in Downing Street this weekend. The Prime Minister suffered a terrible week in Westminster after he was humiliated by Labour rebels and forced to water down his welfare reforms. His premiership then hit a new nadir after Rachel Reeves cried during Prime Minister's Questions and Sir Keir initially failed to guarantee the Chancellor's future, spooking the markets. Lord Glasman, viewed as an important voice within the Labour Party, told Politico's Westminster Insider podcast that there needed to be a 'very significant change' in approach by Sir Keir. He said: 'He is grappling with the idea that being Prime Minister is actually very different from being a public prosecutor or a human rights lawyer and it is whether he can grow into that and we are going to find out I think in the next six months whether he has got it or not. I do think so.' Asked if he was saying that in six months he would know if Sir Keir could continue as Prime Minister, he replied: 'Yeah. We can make a date in six months and talk about where we are because I think that the decisions he has got to make over the summer about the Cabinet, about the reshuffle, about the direction, about all these things, defence policy, industrial strategy, borders, what needs to be done to stop the boats, all these things that he has talked about…' Asked if he believed Sir Keir was the right man to lead Labour into the next general election, he said: 'I don't know about the next election. I think that he is adequately placed to be the Prime Minister for the next four years. 'But in order to do that there has to be a very significant change.' The Prime Minister led Labour back into power with more than 400 MPs at the general election on July 4 last year – clinching a majority just short of Sir Tony Blair's landslide in 1997. But his personal popularity is now the lowest of any British premier after their first 12 months in office, according to professor of politics Sir John Curtice.
CNA
03-07-2025
- Politics
- CNA
Thailand's new Cabinet sworn in
Thailand's new Cabinet has been sworn in, completing a reshuffle of portfolios. It was originally aimed at stemming a political crisis, which has seen Paetongtarn Shinawatra suspended from office, with two acting prime ministers stepping up just this week. CNA's Saksith Saiyasombut reports from Government House in Bangkok.
Khaleej Times
03-07-2025
- Business
- Khaleej Times
Thailand gets third leader this week as new cabinet sworn in
Thailand saw its third person helming the prime minister's office in a week on Thursday, as the king swore in a new cabinet after a court decision plunged the nation's top office into turmoil. The prime minister's office was upheaved on Tuesday when the Constitutional Court suspended Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra pending an ethics probe which could take months. Power passed to transport minister and deputy prime minister Suriya Jungrungreangkit who took office for only one full day, as the bombshell was dropped in an awkward interim ahead of the reshuffle. Former defence minister Phumtham Wechayachai was sworn in as interior minister by the king on Thursday morning, taking on a deputy prime minister role outranking Suriya's -- thus becoming the acting premier. The Thai government said in a statement on social media that the new cabinet approved Phumtham's role as acting prime minister at its first meeting. Before Paetongtarn was ousted she assigned herself the role of culture minister in the new cabinet, meaning she has kept a perch in the upper echelons of power. The revolving door of leadership comes as the kingdom is battling to revive a spluttering economy and secure a US trade deal averting President Donald Trump's looming threat of a 36 percent tariff. 'Big Comrade' at the helm Phumtham is considered a loyal lieutenant to the suspended Paetongtarn and her father Thaksin Shinawatra, the powerful patriarch of a dynasty which has dominated Thai 21st-century politics. Thaksin-linked parties have been jousting with the pro-military, pro-conservative establishment since the early 2000s, but analysts say the family's political brand has now entered decline. The 71-year-old Phumtham earned the nickname "Big Comrade" for his association with a left-wing youth movement of the 1970s, but transitioned to politics through a role in Thaksin's telecoms empire. In previous cabinets he held the defence and commerce portfolios, and spent a spell as acting prime minister after a crisis engulfed the top office last year. Paetongtarn has been hobbled over a longstanding territorial dispute between Thailand and Cambodia, which boiled over into cross-border clashes in May, killing one Cambodian soldier. When she made a diplomatic call to Cambodian ex-leader Hun Sen, she called him "uncle" and referred to a Thai military commander as her "opponent", according to a leaked recording causing widespread backlash. A conservative party abandoned her ruling coalition -- sparking the cabinet reshuffle -- accusing her of kowtowing to Cambodia and undermining the military. The Constitutional Court said there was "sufficient cause to suspect" Paetongtarn breached ministerial ethics in the diplomatic spat.
