We journalists love nothing better than a reshuffle story. Will Theresa May move Boris Johnson from the Foreign Office if the Conservatives win big? Will she sack her Chancellor? Will she tinker with the team charged with delivering the Brexit renegotiation?
I hate to recommend anything that would deprive my colleagues of hours of innocent pleasure. But the Prime Minister should have none of it – particularly since there may no real Tory-Labour contest for them to write about, and they will sniffing about about for stories that Downing Street would doubtless describe as “unhelpful”.
May could close down all this froth and fever before it comes to the boil. How? By announcing that her top team will remain in place post-election: Johnson, Amber Rudd, David Davis, Liam Fox and, yes, Philip Hammond.
Doing so would guarantee continuity to her Brexit planning, close down speculation about the position of the Chancellor, and free Johnson to do what he does best without distraction – namely, campaigning. It would underline that the Prime Minister believes that forming her governments, like the rest of politics, “is not a game”.
As for the rest of the Cabinet, it will just have to take its chance after June 8. That will leave my colleagues and I with plenty to write about.