New Times,
New Thinking.

  1. Politics
25 July 2019updated 07 Jun 2021 3:31pm

Cabinet audit: What does Andrea Leadsom as Business Secretary mean for policy?

By Patrick Maguire

The promotion of Andrea Leadsom from self-imposed backbench exile to a full Cabinet post as Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy is a surprising one, though not for the reasons you might think.

BEIS was a creation of Theresa May – the interventionist ring of “Industrial Strategy” is the big clue – and there are plenty in Johnson’s camp, most notably Liz Truss, who would have preferred to seen it broken up or reduced in size. Its survival is most likely a sign that this administration is not intended to be long for this world: with an election looming, there is simply not enough time for a sweeping  or even modest  reorganisation of Whitehall.

Leadsom is only the second BEIS Secretary, and on Brexit – the issue causing businesses anxiety more than any other – she could not be further away from her predecessor, Greg Clark. Whereas Leadsom was one of the earliest ministerial converts to no-deal, Clark repeatedly defied the whip to oppose it.

He and his ministers saw their job as protecting the “wings and wheels” of the UK economy: its just-in-time supply chains and manufacturing industry. Leadsom will not only have to square her advocacy for a no-deal Brexit with the demands of business, but she must also convince them that the government could and would go through with the threat. Given the opposition of a Commons to no-deal, that could well prove tricky.

Before that, however, Leadsom has an even trickier job at the top of her in-tray: finding a buyer for British Steel. Should she fail, it may well damage the reputation of Johnson’s government among the voters in Leave areas that it is trying so desperately to woo.

Content from our partners
No health, no growth
Tackling cancer waiting times
Kickstarting growth: will complex health issues be ignored?