WILLIAM HAGUE stepped up his campaign to rebuild the Tory party yesterday with a limited reshuffle that only partially swept away the remnants of John Major's failed administration.
The changes catapulted the redoubtable Ann Widdecombe into the front line in the health portfolio, and put Peter Lilley in charge of the party's comprehensive policy review as deputy leader.
But the reshuffle that caught Westminster by surprise left big-name players from the defeated Tory government in their posts, with just three former Ministers leaving the Shadow Cabinet - two voluntarily.
Shadow Home Secretary Sir Brian Mawhinney and Shadow Education Secretary Stephen Dorrell both asked to be removed after lacklustre performances. International development spokesman Sir Alastair Goodlad, Chief Whip under Mr Major, was forced out.
Mr Hague chose to reward those close allies who showed effort over the past year.
Top of the list is former Northern Ireland Minister Michael Ancram, who moves from the constitutional portfolio to take charge of selling the party to the voters when he succeeds Lord Parkinson as chairman in the autumn.
The job of tackling Donald Dewar on Scottish issues goes to Dr Liam Fox, 36, the East Kilbride-born constitutional affairs spokesman. A friend of Mr Hague's with a lively social life, he is expected to add colour to the Shadow Cabinet.
Mr Lilley, who failed to make a mark in the hothouse of the Commons against Chancellor Gordon Brown, is replaced in the Treasury portfolio by Francis Maude, a former Minister who lost his seat in 1992 and returned to the Commons last year.
The other new blood in the Shadow Cabinet comes in the shape of former Public Services Minister David Willetts, who becomes Shadow Education and Employment Secretary, Peter Ainsworth who replaces Mr Maude as Shadow Culture Secretary, and Gary Streeter who replaces Sir Alastair at international development.
Labour dismissed the reshuffle as a pointless exercise that left the Tory Eurosceptic right in control. Minister without Portfolio Peter Mandelson said: ''I don't see the point of replacing one set of failed right-wingers with another.''
Tory veterans who remain in place include Michael Howard as Shadow Foreign Secretary, Sir Norman Fowler, who moves to the home affairs brief, and Gillian Shephard, who is given the task of taking on Deputy Prime Minister
John Prescott and his massive environment, transport, and the English regions brief.
Mr John Maples moves from the health brief to defence with former Shadow Defence Secretary Sir George Young replacing Mrs Shephard as Shadow Leader of the House.
Party vice-chairman Alan Duncan, a close aide to Mr Hague, is appointed Miss Widdecombe's deputy.
The reshuffle, which came ahead of one expected from Mr Blair, was designed to pave the way for the party's comprehensive Listening to Britain exercise, which will see Mr Hague and his spokesmen touring the country to hear the views of ordinary voters.
A Tory spokesman rejected suggestions that the changes were a response to the latest opinion poll setback - Mori's poll in The Times last week which showed the Tories slipping from 27% to 26%. In the same poll, Mr Hague's personal rating dropped from a negative 15% satisfaction rating to negative 25% on the heels of the latest internal spat over the single currency.
Mr Hague said it was time for ''new faces'' in his team. ''This is the team that is going to hold to account the Government that is increasingly breaking its promises to the country,'' he said. The Liberal Democrats ridiculed the changes. Campaigns spokesman Nick Harvey said: ''Now they're free, William Hague should put Gazza and Ginger Spice in his team. That way at least someone will pay attention to the Conservatives.''
Miss Widdecombe dismissed suggestions that there might be tensions between her and Mr Howard, with whom she clashed in government over prisons policy. ''We had an effective working relationship. I see no reason, because we are both grown-ups, why there shouldn't be an effective working relationship with him in the future,'' she said.
The SNP mocked the Shadow Cabinet appointment of Dr Fox as constitutional affairs spokesman dealing with Scotland. Dr Fox, an exiled Scot whose Woodspring constituency is in Avon, said he was keeping the Scottish brief to himself although a colleague might help out on specific issues.
But George Reid, SNP constitutional affairs spokesman, said: ''Avon calling is unlikely to get a positive response on the doorsteps in Scotland because - as Michael Ancram's deputy - Liam Fox has taken a negative attitude to constitutional change as the Scotland Bill has proceeded through Parliament.''
The ins and outs
q IN: Deputy Leader - Peter Lilley;
Shadow Foreign Secretary - Michael Howard;
Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer - Francis Maude;
Shadow Home Secretary - Sir Norman Fowler;
Shadow Leader of the House - Sir George Young;
Constitutional affairs spokesman - Liam Fox.
q OUT: Shadow Home Secretary - Sir Brian Mawhinney;
Shadow Education Secretary - Stephen Dorrell;
Development spokesman - Sir Alastair Goodlad.
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