There may now be fewer gaffes, but there’s only so much a cabinet reshuffle can do

The ministerial reshuffle is one of the crueller rituals in British politics. Those doomed have to walk the walk of the damned up and down Downing Street as journalists yell at them about whether or not they’re happy at being demoted.

It must have been especially galling for the now-former foreign secretary Dominic Raab to have to go through this farce. Having been moved to the justice department, no doubt the fairly meaningless title of “deputy prime minister” will be some salve to his injured pride. Someone had to carry the can for the Kabul debacle, and it was always going to be him. In the end, he wasn’t up to the job, and the furious Tory backbenches wanted someone to pay the price for Britain’s shame.

This reshuffle, then, like most of them, has its predictable side. It would have been a turn-up for the books if Gavin Williamson and Robert Jenrick had survived, and, still relatively young men, they will have to find new outlets for their talents. Few will protest their sacking (unlike Robert Buckland at justice, who seems to have been a blameless victim of the quest to find a sinecure for Mr Raab).

It was also no great shock to see Liz Truss replace Mr Raab at the foreign office. Although her performance as international trade secretary has been underwhelming – the American free trade seems as remote as ever – she has made herself the darling of the Tory backbenchers and activists with her blatant rightist virtue signalling.

Much the same must go for the survival of Priti Patel as home secretary, who too enjoys the enthusiastic support of the more reactionary elements in her party. More of a surprise was Michael Gove’s move downwards to the housing department. Perhaps Mr Johnson still harbours some resentment over the chaotic and unusually vicious leadership contest in 2016 – although allies insist the role has been beefed up. Mr Gove is charged with “levelling up” even as he has himself been levelled down.

This is the first truly post-Brexit government, one where the Leave credentials of the personnel don't count for very much. Mr Johnson, like Theresa May before him, was badly constrained in his choice of talent by having to appoint known Leavers to senior posts, even though they may otherwise have been underqualified for the roles they were expected to fill. The talent pool, in other words, was shallower than it ought to have been because of the need to “get Brexit done”, and the cabinet was stuffed with the likes of Andrea Leadsom, Esther McVey and David Davis purely for reasons of internal Conservative Party management.

Not so much, now, and Mr Johnson is right to take the opportunity to promote some of the more promising of his ministers of state to the top ranks, with no one caring much about which side they were on in the row over Brexit. (Liz Truss, after all, was a Remainer.) Nadhim Zahawi will be welcomed as education secretary not just because he isn’t Mr Williamson, but because he has made such a fine job of the vaccine rollout. Mr Zahawi happens to have been a Brexiteer, but that didn’t get him a seat in the cabinet. Similarly, Mr Raab and Mr Gove, high-profile Leavers, are no longer needed in such important roles as talismans of Brexit.

Mr Johnson now has a free hand to construct his government more completely in his own image – so much so that he has been able to take the audacious decision to promote Nadine Dorries, health minister, to become secretary of state for culture, media and sport.

The point of this reshuffle is not so much to steer the government in some radical new course, but more to address the competence gap that has plagued the government for so long, and done so much damage to its reputation, and the welfare of the country.

The chances are that there will be fewer gaffes. There’s no great tilt to the left or right, or towards or away from the established agenda of popularising nationalism. It will, probably, be a better and more effective government, but one led by a man with all the sense of direction of a wobbly shopping trolley. There is only so much a reshuffle can do.