There are always arguments against having a reshuffle, chief among them a desire to project stability and avoid the impression of a panicked response to short-term difficulties. Sometimes, however, needs must. And this is certainly true now.
Sir Keir Starmer has been in No 10 for more than a year; he swept to office on the back of a big majority and broad public goodwill. With his ratings plummeting and Reform UK riding high, a lot of that early political capital has gone. And while some of the blame attaches to events beyond his control, much of the rest can be traced to a sense of dysfunction and drift at Downing Street, so it is quite right that he has begun there.
