But just how will the new appointments and departures affect both the UK’s domestic and Brexit policies going forward?
And has Dominic Cummings exerted too much influence in Number Ten Downing Street?
Political Commentator Mandy Boylett gives her views on the situation…
Sputnik: What is your take on Boris Johnson’s cabinet reshuffle?
Mandy Boylett: The most notable change has to be Sajid Javid resigning before he’s even done a budget, I believe he’s only the second Chancellor in history not to have done a budget, and the reasons behind this I think, are because the previous people who were working in the treasury were all Remainers, they were working for Philip Hammond, who was a Remainer.
Sajid Javid himself was a remainer, although he now purports to be on the leave side, certainly the advice I think he was getting from the Mandarins, was very much the cautious remain advice, and I think that Boris Johnson was feeling that he wasn’t in control of the treasury.
Boris Johnson wanted to be in control of the treasury, so he told Sajid Javid to get rid of all of his advisors, and Javid said that he can’t just get rid of all of his advisors, and he felt as a matter of honour, that he had to go, but I think that this is all part of Boris Johnson’s plan to sweep the Remainers out of parliament, and to get some Brexiteers who can seize the opportunities.
The other interesting change was the Northern Ireland minister, who had actually got the Stormont Assembly working again, but I think Boris Johnson felt a bit blindsided because Boris didn’t want to be taking old veterans to court for things that happened maybe forty years ago, and the Northern Ireland minister had said in the agreement that he would still pursue the veterans.
I think that blindsided Boris and he thought “I’m getting shot of you”, he’s the leader and he can do what he likes, it’s fair enough isn’t it, if he has people working for him that he thinks he can’t trust?
Sputnik: Does Dominic Cummings have too much influence on politics in the UK?
Mandy Boylett: Boris is the leader, and he has to take responsibility for everything, but sometimes you need somebody like Dominic Cummings, who is not a civil servant, to just come in and look and completely change things, and see what needs to be done.
Dominic Cummings I see as a change manager, and when you change things; you wind people up and you make them anxious because they say “well we’ve always done things this way”, but he’s actually coming in, and he’s changing many things.
I’m optimistic that Cummings will be changing things for the better. I don’t fear change, I think that sometimes when things have been stale for too long, sometimes someone needs to come in and change that.
Sputnik: Will Boris Johnson be able to negotiate a post-Brexit free trade deal with the EU?
Mandy Boylett: The EU commissioners have been making noises about having alignment, and I don’t think we should; I think the whole purpose of leaving the EU, is so that we aren’t down with all of Brussels’ regulations.
We are net importers from the EU, and it would hurt the EU more than us if we don’t have a deal, and I suspect that there will be some sort of bare bones deal, but with all the posturing that’s going on from both sides, it’s difficult to predict exactly what that will be at the moment.
