New post for Chancellor's ally
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Your support makes all the difference.A ministerial ally of Gordon Brown landed a new job just 48 hours after seeming to have been sacked in last week's reshuffle.
The departure of Michael Wills, a junior minister in the Lord Chancellor's Department, was announced by Downing Street on Wednesday. Two days later, he was given an unpaid post at the same level in the Home Office, sparking speculation that Mr Brown had intervened.
The Treasury dismissed suggestions the Chancellor had become involved as "froth and drivel", while Downing Street insisted the Prime Minister was fully in charge of his own appointments. But no one was able to explain the mysterious 48 hours that elapsed between the apparent firing and hiring, probably the briefest period out of office in British political history.
David Blunkett, the Home Secretary, yesterday welcomed his latest recruit and insisted the Government was "the most united we have seen in decades, in generations".
But the puzzle put the subtle balance of power between the Blairites and Brownites within the Government back in the spotlight.
Brown confidants Alistair Darling and Andrew Smith advanced to the posts of Secretary of State for Transport and Secretary of State for Work and Pensions respectively. But several rising Blairite stars were brought in to the Government. And Mr Brown is likely to have been unhappy at the sideways move, from health to the Lord Chancellor's office, of Yvette Cooper, who is married to Ed Balls, the Chancellor's chief economic adviser.
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