More than four years after they first entered government, the Lib Dems have still not had a single female cabinet minister. For many in the party, already dismayed by the Rennard affair, it has long been a point of shame.
But the upcoming cabinet reshuffle, expected early next week, offers a chance to finally change this. A senior party source suggests that Jo Swinson is line to replace Ed Davey, the Energy Secretary, in the party’s top team. Swinson, who recently returned from maternity leave (she is married to fellow Lib Dem MP Duncan Hames), has long been regarded as the strongest female candidate to enter the cabinet. She is a Clegg loyalist, a reliable media performer, and has impressed during her time as a business minister. Her current post would likely be filled by Jenny Willott, who covered for Swinson while she was on leave. If she does enter the cabinet, Swinson would be the youngest-ever female cabinet minister and the first cabinet minister born in the 1980s.
The switch would be a logical one, but it would dismay Davey, who replaced Chris Huhne as Energy Secretary in 2012, and has long been regarded by MPs as positioning himself for a future leadership bid.
No other cabinet-level changes are expected on the Lib Dem side. Clegg confirmed at the weekend that Vince Cable would remain Business Secretary until the election, Alistair Carmichael will remain as Scottish Secretary in advance of the independence referendum, and Danny Alexander will remain Chief Secretary to the Treasury ahead of his likely confirmation as the party’s chief economic spokesman for the election (replacing Cable in that role).
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