Boris Johnson’s historic cabinet reshuffle will dramatically destabilise the government

Editorial: If the prime minister does not rein in his maverick adviser soon, the resentments built up by such conduct will make the case for him

It turned out to be a historic reshuffle after all. Sajid Javid became the first chancellor of the exchequer since Iain Macleod in 1970 not to deliver a budget. He was plainly pushed out of office by a prime minister keen to use his election victory to take more power for himself and his kitchen cabinet of unelected advisers.

As Mr Javid pointedly said, “no self-respecting minister” could accept the condition laid down by Boris Johnson for his survival in office, namely that he should sack his political advisers and accept replacements appointed by the prime minister. Rishi Sunak, the new chancellor, begins his tenure in that office as the wholly owned subsidiary of the prime minister’s private office.

That has huge implications for the prospects of good government. A strong chancellor is one of the most important checks on prime ministerial power in the British constitution of often informal checks and balances. This is especially true now that the government has a large majority in the House of Commons, as it was in the New Labour years, when Gordon Brown acted as a counterweight to Tony Blair.

But now Mr Johnson has power less trammelled than at any time in recent history. What makes it more worrying is that so much of his power will be exercised through a much-expanded class of unelected political appointees. That is the difference between the centralisation of power under Mr Johnson and that under Margaret Thatcher (and she worked for most of her time with strong chancellors).

Above all, the power of Dominic Cummings, the prime minister’s chief adviser, is out of kilter with the principles of good governance. His arrogance in telling a meeting of ministerial aides before the reshuffle that he would “see half of you next week” is no way to run an effective organisation. If Mr Johnson does not rein in his maverick adviser soon, he can expect resentments to build up with such conduct, more damagingly, later.

For the rest of the reshuffle, The Independent, with its characteristic optimism, is keen to praise its good points. Unfortunately, we must first criticise the reduction in the number of female full cabinet members from seven to six. Fewer women are in secretary of state roles at the head of government departments, and protests by the prime minister’s spokespeople that the attorney general is an important post, now held by Suella Braverman, fail to convince. She has the right to attend cabinet meetings, but she is not a cabinet minister.

The reduction in the total size of the cabinet, from 23 to 22, is a small step in a sensible direction, but irrelevant while there is a fleet of 10 additional ministers who have the right to attend its meetings.

So there is little left to praise. To the extent that Mr Johnson has promoted ministers with some track record of getting things done, such as Oliver Dowden, this was a good reshuffle. This looks a little more like a team capable of delivering the improvements in public services on which Mr Johnson’s hopes of re-election in 2024 depend.

But the prime minister has put all that at risk by unbalancing his government by trying to run the Treasury from No 10 and by giving too much unaccountable power to the destabilising Mr Cummings.