Peter Mandelson’s demise last night prompted a rushed Cabinet and ministerial reshuffle in the United Kingdom, including the surprise transfer of Peter Hain from the Foreign Office, following his row with South Africa’s foreign minister, to the backwater of energy at the Department of Trade and Industry.
Although Hain will be reluctant to give up his Africa brief, he now has the important role of pursuing the economic reform agenda in the European Union, seen by some as a precursor to British membership of the euro.
Hain, who this week had published a highly praised pamphlet on the end of foreign policy, replaces Helen Liddell. Liddell, the former Labour Scottish party general secretary, joins the Cabinet as Scottish secretary, the post held by John Reid.
The transfer of Hain could be seen as an attempt to shift a potential critic of the new Republican president George Bush.
A member of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, Hain has been open in his criticism of son of Star Wars, although he has been careful to keep open the government’s options on the still unclear United States proposal for a national missile defence system, the single most sensitive issue in future Anglo-US relations. Blair said yesterday that the issue needed to be placed in a box labelled “handle with care”.
Hain infuriated the South African government with comments he made on a recent private trip to South Africa. He criticised the Pretoria government for its inert response to the crisis in Zimbabwe. The shift could also be seen as a chance to widen Hain’s experience before a post-election reshuffle. Hain is replaced by the Scottish minister of state Brian Wilson. A Blairite, he is relatively well- travelled.