Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs and Defence

Oh, there may be a 13th. The most recent Europe Minister, Baroness Kinnock, lasted only a few months. Appointing her on 5 June, the Prime Minister said:""Glenys…is an excellent Minister for Europe…remember this is about preparing for European Councils, people who will get on with the governments and the rest of the country and persuade them to do things. She's an excellent appointment."" Yet, three months later, the Prime Minister's spokesman described her low-profile removal as "internal housekeeping", saying that it was a""sensible move for both Ministers involved as they both had experience in the subjects"" of Europe and Africa. He was asked what specific African experience Baroness Kinnock had, and the report of his answer states:""He did not have the details in front of him so it was best to speak to the Foreign Office for details."" That is how things have been moved around. Lord Malloch-Brown, the wise eminence—I do not know how the Foreign Secretary has managed without his wise eminence, actually—resigned in July, not long after he admitted what we all know to be the truth—that there is a shortage of helicopters in Afghanistan. He said that the political future for Labour "looks incredibly bleak," chiming in with another of the GOATs, Lord Digby Jones, because the marvellous things about this Government is that the GOATs not only resign, but wander around the pastures bleating afterwards. Lord Jones described his former colleagues as""ambitious, confused, frustrated, worried and overworked"." Looking at them today, I must say that that is a pretty accurate description.