Blair Fires and Hires to Rework Cabinet

Prime Minister Tony Blair appointed an “enforcer” to coordinate policy and promoted his former campaign manager, putting his personal stamp on the British Cabinet for the first time. Blair sacked four Cabinet members but kept the key players--Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown, Foreign Secretary Robin Cook, Home Secretary Jack Straw and Defense Secretary George Robertson. Peter Mandelson, 44, a key Blair strategist and confidant, reportedly had been lobbying for a seat in the Cabinet and got the job of trade and industry secretary. Also gaining in the reshuffle was Agriculture Secretary Jack Cunningham, 58, who becomes minister for the Cabinet office, a new job cutting across ministries to ensure that Blair’s line is being followed. The media have dubbed him the “enforcer.”