Ministerial Reshuffle Affecting Rail

[LNW-GW Joint]

From the BBC: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-24396224

Transport Minister Simon Burns is to resign from the government, No 10 sources have said.
It is understood Mr Burns is to run for deputy speaker of the House of Commons after Nigel Evans' decision to stand down to fight sexual assault charges.
Mr Burns has responsibility for the controversial HS2 rail link, having previously been a health minister

Simon Burns is not everybody's cup of tea, but he certainly learnt how to bat for the railway in his year as Transport Minister (no 2 to Patrick McLoughlin).
They might promote Norman Baker to the role, or more likely will appoint another Tory who might need "education".

Edit:
The responsibilities of this role are currently:
- rail strategy including fares
- London including Crossrail
- HS2
- international/Europe
- aviation

 

[Pugwash]

From the BBC: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-24396224



Simon Burns is not everybody's cup of tea, but he certainly learnt how to bat for the railway in his year as Transport Minister (no 2 to Patrick McLoughlin).
They might promote Norman Baker to the role, or more likely will appoint another Tory who might need "education".

Edit:
The responsibilities of this role are currently:
- rail strategy including fares
- London including Crossrail
- HS2
- international/Europe
- aviation

As one of his constituents I have to say he is an utterly useless MP and has messed up at health ( calling 38 degrees members morons ) and at rail has allowed above fare increases whilst fuel duty has been frozen.

Utterly useless and he will no doubt be the same as deputy speaker.

 

[TheKnightWho]

calling 38 degrees members morons

He might have a point there. Mass letters are extremely ineffective, and the vast majority of those I've seen on 38 degrees are uninformed, biased rubbish, using emotional arguments. The few goods ones I've seen would be much better served a 50-100 individual letters than a thousand online signatures, many of which aren't people's real names.

If I were an MP, I'd be a lot more worried by the former, because it takes 30 seconds of your time to read a petition's title and click a button to "sign" it, but 30 minutes to write a letter, however badly written.

 

[Pugwash]

He might have a point there. Mass letters are extremely ineffective, and the vast majority of those I've seen on 38 degrees are uninformed, biased rubbish, using emotional arguments. The few goods ones I've seen would be much better served a 50-100 individual letters than a thousand online signatures, many of which aren't people's real names.

If I were an MP, I'd be a lot more worried by the former, because it takes 30 seconds of your time to read a petition's title and click a button to "sign" it, but 30 minutes to write a letter, however badly written.

and as I remember 38 degrees have had great success stopping the sell off of the government owned forests and a successful legal challenge to the closure of an A&E unit.

They also have more users than the conservative party have members.

 

[christopher]

Never heard of him before?

 

[Morgsie]

Really want Norman Baker promoted in the reshuffle

There is a reshuffle planned amongst the lower levels.

Simon Burns is a massive Hillary Clinton fan, RAIL interviewed him a while ago

 

[WatcherZero]

Norman Baker has indeed done well with the Light Rail portfolio, hes been as good for that sector as Adonis was for heavy rail. McLoughlin, not amazing but has been doing a lot better than Greening did who was an ardent cutter and got us into the franchising mess by overcutting Dft jobs after she took over from Hammond.

 

[Monty]

Never heard of him before?

Likewise I've never heard of 38 degrees either to be quite honest either.

Simon Burns is a massive Hillary Clinton fan, RAIL interviewed him a while ago

Is that a good or a bad thing? Personally I think he could do better for idols to follow.

 

[38Cto15E]

i think it is all the same whatever party or whatever the minister is responsible for, after a while they move on and do not have time to see policies or projects through to conclusion.
I think with this government we have had 2 or 3 transport ministers already.

 

[Oswyntail]

and as I remember 38 degrees have had great success stopping the sell off of the government owned forests and a successful legal challenge to the closure of an A&E unit. .....

In both those cases, they piggybacked on existing actions, then claimed the success was theirs. And, if you look at their "supporting documentation", it is from a very limited number of sources.
TBH, I am worried by 38 Degrees, Avaaz, Change and the like. They claim mass support, but it is as valid a measure as putting "Like" on facebook - so what worries me is that people will think they are actually engaging in the democratic debate in the country, and so withdraw from more profitable engagement.
You get more sensible debate here than you do via these organisations.

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

i think it is all the same whatever party or whatever the minister is responsible for, after a while they move on and do not have time to see policies or projects through to conclusion.
I think with this government we have had 2 or 3 transport ministers already.

His replacement is vital for HS2 at this stage.
He/she will have to introduce the Bill into Parliament.
It's a fair bet they won't ask Cheryl Gillan to do the job.

Norman Baker currently manages franchises after they are awarded, whereas Burns was in the position of running the bids and making the awards (not that there were any after the ICWC fiasco).
He was also supposed to be presiding over the ticketing/pricing review.

 

[Railsigns]

They might promote Norman Baker to the role

I can't see it. For this role, the Tories require somebody with the "privatisation at any cost" ideology chip inserted.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

He held the Transport portfolio, but the opportunity to put his hat in the ring for the Deputy Speaker post shows his "commitment" to the Transport role..

 

[HowardGWR]

I can't see it. For this role, the Tories require somebody with the "privatisation at any cost" ideology chip inserted.

More importantly, the ministerial roles are doled out according to the Coalition Agreement. So the next incumbent will be a Conservative MP or Lord.

 

[Aldaniti]

Jumped before he was pushed from what I hear. A minor reshuffle imminent.

 

[Morgsie]

More importantly, the ministerial roles are doled out according to the Coalition Agreement. So the next incumbent will be a Conservative MP or Lord.

He held the Transport portfolio, but the opportunity to put his hat in the ring for the Deputy Speaker post shows his "commitment" to the Transport role..

Jumped before he was pushed from what I hear. A minor reshuffle imminent.

That did not stop David Heath being promoted from Deputy Leader of the Commons to Minister of State at DEFRA

There is one planned regarding the lower levels of the Government

 

[Sleepy]

He may have noticed rather too many complaints in his post from Essex commuters with the election not that far away. As commented above he is not exactly a great MP for Chelmsford either.

 

[tbtc]

In both those cases, they piggybacked on existing actions, then claimed the success was theirs. And, if you look at their "supporting documentation", it is from a very limited number of sources.
TBH, I am worried by 38 Degrees, Avaaz, Change and the like. They claim mass support, but it is as valid a measure as putting "Like" on facebook - so what worries me is that people will think they are actually engaging in the democratic debate in the country, and so withdraw from more profitable engagement.
You get more sensible debate here than you do via these organisations.

Totally agreed - Facebook and Twitter are full of these "please sign this, it is very important to me" campaigns - some are almost beyond parody.

If they actually made any real difference then we'd have seen Ian Duncan Smith survive on £53 a week for a six month period (or whatever other tokenistic campaign there was a few months ago), or maybe an end to austerity/ removal of Student Fees/ Jeremy Clarkson for PM...

...it's the modern version of wearing badges in the '80s - it says "look, I've done something" to your pals on Social Media at no cost to you - I hate those passive aggressive campaigns.

A minor reshuffle imminent.

There usually is, after the party conferences.

The frustrating thing is that this job is only seen as a stepping stone to bigger and better things - hence some people not sticking around

 

[Roverman]

I've always felt that if Mr Cameron wasn't PM he would have made quite a good Transport Minister, for a start he owns (or did own) a couple of MG ZT saloons. He therefore would have understood perfectly the issues the modern driver faces (high VED and petrol taxation for starters!)

It is disappointing that so many see the role as 'junior' and a step up to better things. I would have said that most of the Cabinet roles are as important as each other.

 

[yorksrob]

It would be nice to have Norman Baker promoted to a more "heavy" rail orientated role. Might give him more chance to move the re-opening agenda forward.

 

[Philip Elliott]

It would be nice to have Norman Baker promoted to a more "heavy" rail orientated role. Might give him more chance to move the re-opening agenda forward.

And for that very reason he hasn't got a chance

 

[yorksrob]

And for that very reason he hasn't got a chance

Possibly true, but we can hope !

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

It is disappointing that so many see the role as 'junior' and a step up to better things. I would have said that most of the Cabinet roles are as important as each other.

Your most earnest hope of role importance in this matter is not shared by those in the Cabinet, unfortunately.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

That did not stop David Heath being promoted from Deputy Leader of the Commons to Minister of State at DEFRA. There is one planned regarding the lower levels of the Government

The matter of the position of Deputy Speaker being vacated was not one in the normal manner of events, nonetheless.

 

[yorksrob]

The matter of the position of Deputy Speaker being vacated was not one in the normal manner of events, nonetheless.

Seems particularly disappointing for anyone to see "Deputy Speaker", a frankly administrative position, as preferable to transport.

 

[Robert Taggart]

Burns - reasonable as junior transport minister - will hopefully give grief to that poison dwarf Bercow - if successfully elected to be his deputy !

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Burns - reasonable as junior transport minister - will hopefully give grief to that poison dwarf Bercow - if successfully elected to be his deputy !

Indeed so, there have already been past precursors of what may be to come.

 

[IKBrunel]

Totally agreed - Facebook and Twitter are full of these "please sign this, it is very important to me" campaigns - some are almost beyond parody.

If they actually made any real difference then we'd have seen Ian Duncan Smith survive on £53 a week for a six month period (or whatever other tokenistic campaign there was a few months ago), or maybe an end to austerity/ removal of Student Fees/ Jeremy Clarkson for PM...

...it's the modern version of wearing badges in the '80s - it says "look, I've done something" to your pals on Social Media at no cost to you - I hate those passive aggressive campaigns.

Agreed that there are some really ill-informed petitions out there. There are also many well informed ones organsied by charities and campaign groups with genuine expertise/insight in a given field, and there is evidence that they do shift policy. I think if it means that people engage with their elected representatives who might not take the trouble to write letters, that can be a good thing as it gives MPs & Govts a barometer of public feeling earlier on in decision making process. In theory this might mean Govts are less likely to make decisions out of step with opinion like the poll tax & Iraq War, though not always.... The downside is that people use it as an alternative to more 'real' forms of engagement in politics like joining parties and going on marches.

 

[jimm]

I've always felt that if Mr Cameron wasn't PM he would have made quite a good Transport Minister, for a start he owns (or did own) a couple of MG ZT saloons. He therefore would have understood perfectly the issues the modern driver faces (high VED and petrol taxation for starters!)

It is disappointing that so many see the role as 'junior' and a step up to better things. I would have said that most of the Cabinet roles are as important as each other.

As someone who these days is driven around in a black Jag by a Government driver, with Special Branch in tow, I doubt Mr Cameron is that familiar with what a litre of fuel costs - nor what princely sums his constituents are asked to shell out for peak journeys on the Cotswold Line.

 

[nomis1066]

No great loss - good riddance to the man with his cretinous observations that far more trains ran on time now than they did in BR days - if in those days they ever got to their destination at all. With considered observations like that, Transport will be in better hands without Mr Burns.

 

[TheKnightWho]

No great loss - good riddance to the man with his cretinous observations that far more trains ran on time now than they did in BR days - if in those days they ever got to their destination at all. With considered observations like that, Transport will be in better hands without Mr Burns.

Well I suppose it's true, even if it is a bit of a useless and meaningless statement in context.