The ultimate hokey-cokey cabinet post?

Most people get just the once chance at any one job in government. It's very unusual (Mandelson with the DTI aside, and Mandelson seems to be an exception to most political rules) for someone to go back to a job a second time.

At Cabinet level, Mandelson has done it, Roy Jenkins with the Home Office has, and I think that's it, post war. There's been the odd time of someone going to back to a job they'd previously done when their party had been out of office but picking up where you left off but for the intervention of the electorate is slightly different.

So why has the SoS for Wales post (perhaps the post with the least responsibility in all government) had this retread effect twice, with both Murphy and Hain?

Secretary of State for Wales
July 2009: Paul Murphy
October 2002: Peter Hain
January 2008: Paul Murphy
June 2009: Peter Hain

Last time Hain did this job, he doubled it with the DWP job (replaced by Mr Purnell) but suddenly, in the intervening 18 months the job must have grown in importance and Hain no longer doubles-up.

Presumably, this reshuffle has been made for the same reason that Jim Murphy is in Scotland - to run campaigns for the Labour party. By any stretch of the imagination Hain is a better campaigner than (Paul) Murphy (Paul Murphy wouldn't recognise a campaign if it introduced itself) and Wales has the 2nd highest proportion of Labour seats of any UK region (and it's a bit tricky to justify a full-time Secretary of State for the North East).

Fresh Blood and the Chief Secretary

Prime Ministers normally reshuffle Cabinets and declare that they've brought in fresh blood and new ideas. This one bucked that very clear trend and the average experience of Cabinet rises after the reshuffle. The outgoing Cabinet members have been, on average, in the Commons for 14 years. The incoming, for 16 years. In contrast to the first Brown Cabinet which brought in two people in their first parliament (the Ed's), the least experienced this time is Ben Bradshaw, having been around in Parliament since 1997 (the most experienced newcomer to Cabinet since at least 1986)

The post of Chief Secretary is virtually always filled by a newcomer to the Cabinet. Since 1970, only two people have moved from inside the Cabinet to the Chief Sec post. Liam Byrne becomes only the second such mover after William Waldegrave, in 95 (John Major's and the Conservatives last Chief Secretary).

Peers in charge & the First Secretary of State

Since the second world war, this is the first Cabinet to have members of the Lords in charge of two spending departments (Mandelson at business, Adonis at Transport).
Lord (Peter) Carrington, Lord (Quentin Hogg) Hailsham, Lord (David) Young have been in a very small minority of peers who have run major departments and this Cabinet is makinga major contributions to their ranks.

These exceptions to the rule had an MP as their departmental deputy, able to answer questions and make statements, but as a member of the Cabinet, usually one of the nominal posts such as Paymaster-General or Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. Ken Clarke, for example, first became a member of the Cabinet in this role, to David Young.

What's slightly extraordinary, this was the case with Mandelson prior to todays reshuffle and the problem is now doubled, is that not only are their departmental deputies not members of the Cabinet, they're not even part of the phalanx of people entitled or invited to attend. Statements on Transport and Business issues will now be made and answered by an MP not around the Cabinet table when they were discussed.

We've also seen today the revival of one of the more meaningless (to the world if not to the holder) titles in government, that of First Secretary of State, which Lord Mandelson now has. Indeed, not content with that honorary title, he's also scooped up that of Lord President, normally destined for Leader of the Lords or the Commons.

Of his 6 predecessors, 3 also held the (also meaningless) post of Deputy Prime Minister (Prescott, Heseltine, and the first post-holder, Rab Butler). 1 was deputy leader of his party (the first G Brown at the top of British politics), leaving Mandelson alongside Barbara Castle and Michael Stewart as non-deputy holders of the First Sec of State title.

Why do Welsh Ministers stay in office so much longer than their Westminster and Holyrood colleagues?

Looking at the memberships of the two devolved governments in '99; and Westminster at around the same time, and scrolling forward to the same groups 10 years later (8 for the Scots, as obviously the change in government would have made the exercise irrelevant), there are some stark contrasts between the longevities of the ministerial teams.

For the Scots, over 8 years, just 5 out of the original 22 (22%) ministers were still in office at the end of the 8 years.

For the Welsh, 10 years on, it was 44%. And the 56% who didn't serve the full decade, all departed from the Cabinet in the first 18 months.

In Westminster, we're talking far bigger numbers, both in government and the parliamentary pool they can be drawn from. And there, for the same decade, the figure was 28 out of 108 ministers who were in office in 1999 and still in office 10 years later. 10 of whom (such as Nick Brown, Margaret Beckett, Paul Murphy and John Denham) were not in office for all of that time. So a figure of 26% or 16% depending on how you count these things.

So why does Wales manage such greater stability in government? Smaller gene pool from which to draw potential ministers lessening the push to lose under-performing ministers? Less demanding government and media environment in which to exist? More reluctant 'butcher' in charge of reshuffles? And is there a scrap of evidence that a more stable government base produces better government?