They say never do the same job twice, but that obviously doesn't apply if you are a member of the Cabinet or a manager of Newcastle Utd. Peter Hain succeeded Paul Murphy here, and now Paul Murphy is succeeding Peter Hain in Wales, having already been Secretary of State for Wales once before.
A rumour did the rounds in Westminster that Shaun Woodward would be given the Welsh job on top of the Northern Ireland one, which would have looked like a move towards a department of the regions. But that proved erroneous.
If the logic of this merry go round reshuffle is to be sustained you might think that whenever Mr Woodward is moved his job should return to a resurrected Peter Hain. But then, in contrast to Peter Hain, Paul Murphy has always been regarded as the ultimate safe pair of hands. Peter Mandelson got a reprieve from Tony Blair, but Peter Hain will have to work his passage, and answer all the Met's questions to their satisfaction, before he can start dreaming of a return to the front bench.
People were apparently queueing out in the street in their eagerness to get a job in Belfast's new Victoria Square development this morning. But the Department for Social Development isn't having so much luck in attracting potential staff. In a meeting of Departmental Permanent Secretaries in December, the DSD's Alan Shannon said his department currently had 540 vacancies. He blamed pay as the main factor in not being able to retain staff. There's a high turnover in general administrative and supervisory staff in benefits offices and child support offices. A DSD spokesman pointed out that the department is not unique as recruiting and retaining staff is a problem in other areas of the civil service.
The Social Development Minister Margaret Ritchie has asked her Executive colleagues to retrospectively approve her decision to axe £1 million in funding to a UDA linked conflict transformation initiative. DUP sources portray the move, at a special Executive meeting this morning, as a belated recognition by the SDLP minister that she should have sought the approval of her colleagues before cutting the money last year. However SDLP sources say Ms Ritchie is not the only one pressing for the retrospective permission. They say it is in the interests of other Executive parties and senior civil servants to authorise the move before a judicial review begins, probably in early March. The Executive discussed the matter today but adjourned until next week. That means any decision will be made after Monday and Tuesday when the SDLP, alongside the other parties, will have to make up its mind how it intends to vote on the Executive's Programme for Government and Budget.
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