Brown appoints first female home secretary

Gordon Brown is going to some length to prove that his administration will be a very different one from Tony Blair's, appointing Britain's first ever female home secretary, as he makes drastic changes around his cabinet table.

Jacqui Smith, the former chief whip, will take charge of the new-look department in a wide-ranging reshuffle that is likely to see six members of the Blair cabinet leave government altogether.

Alistair Darling, the former trade and industry secretary, is widely expected to replace Mr Brown as chancellor.

David Miliband, the Blairite environment secretary, has already been confirmed as one of the youngest ever foreign secretaries at the age of 41. "I'm tremendously honoured and delighted to be asked by the PM to be his foreign secretary," Mr Miliband told reporters.

James Purnell is to be the new secretary of state for culture, media and sport. Mr Purnell, who once worked for the BBC and spent a year after the last election as a junior minister in the culture department, has been given the post by new prime minister Gordon Brown.

There is speculation that outgoing culture secretary Tessa Jowell could retain a portfolio looking after planning for the 2012 Olympics.

Douglas Alexander, a close ally of Mr Brown's who had already been picked as Labour's general election strategist - is likely to be further rewarded with a promotion to the Department for International Development, replacing Hilary Benn.

Alan Johnson is expected to take over as the new health secretary following Patricia Hewitt's resignation last night, and Jack Straw, Mr Brown's campaign manager, is likely to be appointed head of the new justice ministry.

And in a move designed to show that he will utilise all the talent available to him regardless of which party the individuals belong to, he has appointed the TV business guru Sir Alan Sugar as a business advisor and is said to be in talks with Lady Williams of the Lib Dems about a possible position. Appointing Lady Williams would be an especially generous thing to do as it was the gang of four's breakaway from Labour in the eighties that many people think split the Labour vote and kept Thatcher in power and Labour in opposition for eighteen long years.

I think by the end of today the government is going to look substantially different than it did yesterday with many of Blair's former favourites heading for the backbenches. One of the constant refrains on radio programmes this morning has been that we can't expect too much change as Brown has been a member of the government for the past ten years and has been part of all the decision making processes. I think this rather misses the point. For whilst it is true that Brown was Blair's accomplice in the New Labour project, for Brown New Labour was a matter of political expedience, in his heart he remained old Labour down to his bones. And, whilst I fully expect him to govern from a centrist position, the fact that his heart is Old Labour will, I suspect, stop him from taking any of those wild lurches to the right that were where Blair's natural tendencies always seemed top lead him.

So there is a big change in Downing Street and I don't think it will prove to be a superficial one.

Blair was, at heart, a rather right wing politician; Brown, at heart, is not.

A new beginning.

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Tags: Gordon Brown, Tony Blair, New Labour, Old Labour