Speculation about Gove future as reshuffle likely in ...

It may be all change - again - at the Department of Levelling Up, Communities and Local Government if media speculation at the weekend comes true.

Firstly there appears to be a government reshuffle lined up for September as the Conservatives prepare a refreshed line-up for the final 15 months or so, at most, before a General Election.

Over the weekend the BBC ran a story including the statement: “Sources told the BBC they expect the next reshuffle in September.

Rishi Sunak is reportedly planning to shake up his top team, but no date has been confirmed.”

Most reshuffles of Cabinet positions in recent years have trickled down to include changes to non-Cabinet positions, too, with the role of Housing Minister typically being a short lived career move for MPs.

The incumbent now - Rachel Maclean - took up the role in February this year and was the sixth MP to hold the role in 12 months. Immediately before her Lucy Frazer held the job of housing minister for 91 days and her predecessor, Lee Rowley, was in post for only 49 days.

Maclean is the 15th housing minister since the Conservatives came to power in 2010 and the 23rd person to have the role since 1997.

Meanwhile Charles Moore - a well-connected former editor of The Spectator and the Daily Telegraph and a non-affiliated peer for the past three years - wrote in The Spectator over the weekend that Housing Secretary Michael Gove may be moving closer to Labour.

Moore says Gove is “on a journey” and has been “praising equality and generally getting greener and redder.”

He writes: “If Sir Kier [Starmer, Labour leader] wins next year, Mr Gove might reasonably calculate that he could do the state more service by lending lustre to Labour (or taking a non-political role under it) than as a shadow spokesman of tired Tories.”

Gove has been an MP since 2005 and was appointed Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities by Rishi Sunak on October 25 last year; he had previously held the post under Boris Johnson’s premiership from September 2021 to July 2022, as well as a string of other senior government positions over the past decade or so.

His championing of the Renters Reform Bill - largely seen as pro-tenant and anti-landlord - have led to a number of criticisms by some Conservatives who oppose many of the specific measures proposed in the legislation.