Justine Greening and Jeremy Hunt 'biggest reshuffle risks'

As the dust settled on David Cameron’s first Cabinet reshuffle on Tuesday, PRWeek spoke to Andrew Hobson, associate director at Open Road, and Chris Martin, head of public affairs at The Communication Group, in this weeks podcast.

Martin pointed to Justine Greening, who has taken on the role of International Development Secretary, as someone who could cause a potential media embarrassment for the Prime Minister.

As Transport Secretary, Greening fought plans to introduce a third runway at Heathrow while also working as MP for Putney, a constituency located in the flight path.

Martin said: ‘It’s conceivable that we could see a secretary of state resigning in protest for her own constituency’s needs.’

Both pointed to new Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt as having ‘a very tough few months’ ahead of him, with the Leveson Inquiry and a report on the failed Mid Staffordshire Foundation Trust that will be landing on his desk in October.

Hobson said: ‘Some people think that health is going to be quiet for the next couple of years. I don’t think that’s going to be the case. Hunt doesn’t have a background in health and it’s a hugely technical area.’

Hobson also predicted that the coming weeks of political news would be focused on ‘coalition splits’.

‘They’ve already got in their sights some new appointments that are to the right of the party, so they’ll be looking for any disagreements with the Liberal Democrats,’ he said.