Six in ten voters believe the reshuffle - which demoted Michael Gove and promoted several female ministers - was a step in the right direction for the Conservatives, ORB International survey shows

David Camerons Cabinet reshuffle has boosted the Conservatives chances at the next election as most voters give his new ministerial team their approval, a new poll shows.

The ORB International survey for the Telegraph shows that six in ten voters believe the reshuffle - which demoted Michael Gove and promoted several female ministers - was a step in the right direction for the Tories.

Some 59 per cent of people questioned backed the shake-up of ministerial jobs, while 41 per cent had doubts.

The reshuffle received the most positive response from Tory voters, 87 per cent of whom approved. And in a result that will encourage Downing Street, half of Ukip voters took a positive view of the shake-up.

Even 45 per cent of Labour supporters said the reshuffle was good for the Tories, according to the survey of 2,000 adults, conducted on Wednesday and Thursday last week.

The findings came as one of the ministers whom Mr Cameron sacked launched an extraordinary attack on his political opponents.

Interactive chart: 'The PM's reshuffle is a step in the right direction'

In an article for The Telegraph, Owen Paterson, the former Environment Secretary, says that he accepts the Prime Ministers right to choose his team but argues that the jubilant reaction to his sacking from green activists shows he was challenging them rather effectively.

Mr Paterson mounts a vigorous defence of his record battling the influence of green groups in Brussels, fighting Liberal Democrats in coalition over wind farms, and responding to the flooding of the Somerset Levels last winter.

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Poll: David Cameron's reshuffle boosts Tories

David and I didnt fall out exactly. There was a constant friction. The worst of it was, some of his aides were briefing that I was going to be sacked all the time."

"I had a great row with them when they told the producer of Question Time that I was ill and they were able to provide a replacement. It never occurred to them that I could ring up the producer. She said: 'I'm told you are ill.' After that, I got even more freelance, he told the Observer.

Mr Clarke warned that the economic recover remains fragile, vulnerable to shocks and lacks a strong productive base necessary to compete.

"It's not firmly enough rooted on a proper balance between manufacturing and a wide range of services and financial services. I mean, we have this mystery of why we can't get productivity to start rising again."

He warned against triumphalism over a bit of cyclical upswing in the economy.

Mr Clarke said he is uncomfortable with personal attacks, as the Tories sharpen their message that Ed Miliband is unfit to be Prime Minister. This is a generational thing. One of the ways in which politics has changed which I don't find very desirable is the celebrity culture. The system gets more and more presidential."

He revealed Margaret Thatcher wanted to go to the American system of healthcare when he was his health secretary.

"I had ferocious rows with her about it. She wanted compulsory insurance, with the state paying the premiums for the less well-off. I thought that was a disaster. The American system is hopeless, dreadful."

In her memoirs, Mrs Thatcher disowned a leaked policy paper proposing education vouchers and medical insurance to provide private healthcare meaning "the end of the National Health Service", saying it was "total nonsense". However, subsequently released Cabinet papers suggests she commissioned and seriously discussed the proposals.

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No 10 lied to BBC to keep me off-air, says Ken Clarke

CAPE GIRARDEAU, MO (KFVS) -

?Here is a list of road projects around the Heartland scheduled for Saturday, July 19.

Butler County, MO

Roadwork continues on Route 67 from CR 323 to Route 160/158 signed as Route C. Traffic on the existing Route 67 north and south of Harviell will not have an outlet to the new pavement during this time. East and westbound traffic will be restricted. Existing lanes of Route 67 from CR 323 to Route 160/158 will be signed as Route C. The north end of Route C (existing Route 67) will remain closed for about two months as work is completed at the intersection of Route 67, Route C, and CR 323.

Route HH in Butler County will be closed as Missouri Department of Transportation crews prepare the roadway for pipe replacement. This section of road is located between County Road 334 and County Road 202. Weather permitting, work will performed Tuesday, July 22 and Wednesday, July 23 from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily.

Route BB in Cape Girardeau County will be reduced to one lane with a 16-foot width restriction as Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT) crews perform pavement repairs. This section of road is located from Route B to end of state maintenance. Weather permitting, work will performed Monday, July 21 through and Thursday, July 24 from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily.

Janet Drive will be closed at the intersection of Janet & Fairlane and Janet & Brookwood in Cape Girardeau. The intersections will be open.

Concrete street repairs are set to start on July 14 on Hopper Road near Clippard School in Cape Giradeau. The city says this will be the first of many repairs occurring this year. Work on Hopper is expected to last up to two weeks, weather permitting. Visit this link for more.

Dunklin County, MO

Route 25 in Dunklin County will be reduced to one lane as the Missouri Department of Transportation crews perform pavement repairs

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Heartland road projects for 7/19

The five things you need to know on Wednesday 16 July 2014...

1) BOTTOM OF THE CLASS

Well, when they said it'd be a major reshuffle they weren't kidding. A new foreign secretary, Philip Hammond, and a new defence secretary, Michael Fallon. Plus two new women cabinet ministers, Nicky Morgan at education and Liz Truss at environment. And the departure of big-hitters William Hague and Ken Clarke (the former via the stopgap post of Leader of the Commons). But the big news of the reshuffle, by a country mile, was the shock demotion of Cameron ally, friend and confidante Michael Gove, who goes from the full cabinet job of education secretary to the 'attending' cabinet post of chief whip. The morning papers agree.

"Going, going.. Gove" is the Guardian splash headline.

"Prime Minister sacrifices close friend Michael Gove" is on the front of the Telegraph.

"Gove axed from education" is the Times headline.

The Independent splashes on the prime minister's rather defensive quote about the former education secretary: "He hasn't been demoted!", but adding the following question in its standfirst: "So how do you explain Gove's 36,000 pay cut, Mr Cameron?"

It's worth reminding ourselves what a big deal this is. Only a few months ago, he was being touted as a future leadership contender and considered to be one of the most powerful and influential members of the cabinet. Then he fell out with Theresa May over extremism - and the latter, it seems, takes no prisoners.

It's especially remarkable given how the other self-styled radical reformer and deeply unpopular cabinet minister, Iain Duncan Smith, survived. Again. The Guardian's Patrick Wintour writes:

"Both men are passionate and sincere reformers, determined in their own way, to give greater opportunities for the poor. One, in his own terms, has succeeded, and done exactly what he and Cameron promised in the Conservative manifesto. He created academies, established free schools and imposed his no excuses culture in schools. Multiple eggs have been broken, but there is a recognisable omelette. The other has failed, leaving the Treasury, the National Audit Office and Major Projects Authority exasperated. Multiple eggs have been broken and they have largely been scraped off the kitchen floor. Yet it is Gove that has been demoted a state of affairs that says much about Cameron and the balance of forces inside the Conservative party."

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Mehdi's Morning Memo: Bottom Of The Class

Home building scheme gets Harrow Borough Council cabinet backing

8:34pm Thursday 17th July 2014 in News By Bruce Thain

Proposals to demolish and redevelop an entire housing estate moved a step closer with councillors backing a home building scheme.

The Homes for Harrow scheme, which included the regeneration of Grange Farm Estate, was given the go ahead by Harrow Borough Councils cabinet this evening.

Officers will now start drawing up more detailed proposals for the work including plans for the temporary re-housing of tenants and possible purchasing of additional land.

The plans mean eventually replacement of 240 ageing homes with 430 new properties.

At the meeting abinet member for housing Cllr Glen Hearnden said: This report marks a very exciting time for this administration and the council.

We have half our housing stock over the last ten years through help to buy. This programme means after two decades this council can once again start building homes for the people of Harrow.

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Home building scheme gets cabinet backing

By Ian Duncan

Published at 11:51, Wednesday, 16 July 2014

Teaching union leaders have challenged the new education secretary to get a grip of the Cumbrias schools and help solve its standards scandal.

Michael Gove

The departure of Michael Gove, who had held the post for the past four years, during yesterdays Cabinet reshuffle came as a shock to many but they were treating with caution his largely unknown replacement Nicky Morgan.

The change was welcomed by Alan Rutter, the Cumbrian divisional secretary for the NUT, who said he hoped the new minister would be more willing to have a conversation than her predecessor.

He said: I would expect her to do everything in her power to raise standards Gove wasnt interested.

Mr Rutter said that the former education secretary had single-mindedly pursued his favoured policies of selective schools and academies and he hoped his replacement would be allowed to take a different approach.

He said that members had been treated with both disregard and arrogance under Mr Goves rule and added: It cant be any worse than it is at the moment.

Mr Rutter said that politicians brought an element of their personality into whatever role they were given but admitted that he did not know too much about the new education secretary and added: I dont know very much about her at all but we only hope that she is sympathetic.

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Cumbrian teaching union's plea to Gove replacement

By Max Hastings

Published: 18:54 EST, 15 July 2014 | Updated: 03:07 EST, 16 July 2014

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The demotion of Michael Gove, pictured, from Education Secretary to Chief Whip has 'shocked Middle England'

Most government reshuffles are - to put it bluntly - non-events: they are mere shifts of faceless men and women, vying with each other for insignificance.

But this one was in a different league, a small earthquake in Whitehall.

The sacking of Michael Gove - for assuredly, his demotion from Education Secretary to Chief Whip amounts to nothing less - has shocked Middle England.

Here was the undisputed Tory hero of the past four years - a man with a mission, a crusader, an obsessive, who has shown the courage to hurl himself into the task of salvaging Britains ruined schools system in a fashion no other holder of his office in modern times has attempted.

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David Cameron 'will live to regret' cabinet reshuffle

London: Getting the latest news on a British government reshuffle once meant waiting outside the prime minister's Downing Street office for ministers to emerge, and judging their fate by the look on their faces. But in the age of social media, David Cameron unveiled a major shake-up of his cabinet on Tuesday through his two official Twitter accounts, which between them boast 3.4 million followers.

"I'll be reshuffling the Cabinet today. Watch this Twitter feed for the very latest. #Reshuffle," the premier announced overnight. When his Conservative party was still in opposition in 2009, Cameron famously explained his reluctance to join Twitter, saying: "The instantness of it, I think -- too many twits might make a twat."

But he is now firmly on board, and amid the swirling and often contradictory rumours in Westminster, @Number10gov and @David_Cameron became authoritative sources of information about who was in and who was out.

Government ministries routinely use Twitter and 461 of the 650 members of the House of Commons have accounts, with former foreign secretary William Hague one of the most enthusiastic users.

Hague would often tweet reaction to breaking news to his 240,000 followers well before an official statement arrived from the Foreign Office -- to the occasional consternation of the staff in the press office.

Hague's replacement, former defence secretary Philip Hammond, has yet to set up an official account and a spokesman said it was "too early" to say how he would use social media.

True to form, Hague announced his resignation via @WilliamJHague on Monday night just as Cameron tweeted a message of thanks for his four years in the job.

Since then, there have been 260,000 tweets about the reshuffle, and 100,000 mentions of the term, according to an analysis by Twitter.

It is not the first time the prime minister has used social media in this way, having unveiled a previous reshuffle in September 2012 through a string of tweets. Twitter also allowed those who had been promoted to crow about their new job, and those who were passed over to have the final word.

Former defence secretary Liam Fox had been widely tipped to return to the cabinet, but as speculation grew about his failure to be promoted, he tweeted a statement pointing out that he had been offered a job -- but had turned it down.

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British PM David Cameron reshuffles his Cabinet on Twitter

LONDON: Getting the latest news on a British government reshuffle once meant loitering for hours in Downing Street waiting for ministers to emerge from the prime minister's office and judging their fate by the look on their face.

But in this age of social media, David Cameron unveiled a major shake-up of his cabinet on Tuesday via his two official Twitter accounts, which between them boast 3.4 million followers.

"I'll be reshuffling the Cabinet today. Watch this Twitter feed for the very latest. #Reshuffle," the premier announced overnight.

When his Conservative party was still in opposition in 2009, Cameron famously explained his reluctance to join Twitter, saying: "The instantness of it, I think -- too many t*** might make a t***."

But he is now firmly on board, and amid the swirling and often contradictory rumours in Westminster, @Number10gov and @David_Cameron became an authoritative source of information about who was in and who was out.

Government ministries routinely use Twitter and more than 450 of the 650 members of the House of Commons have accounts, with former foreign secretary William Hague one of the most enthusiastic users.

Hague would often tweet reaction to breaking news to his 240,000 followers well before an official statement arrived from the Foreign Office -- to the occasional consternation of the staff in the press office.

Hague's replacement, former defence secretary Philip Hammond, has yet to set up an official account and a spokesman said it was "too early" to say how he would use social media.

True to form, Hague announced his resignation via @WilliamJHague on Monday night just as Cameron tweeted a message of thanks for his four years in the job.

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British PM reshuffles his cabinet on Twitter

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MICHAEL SETTLE UK POLITICAL EDITOR

But the UK Government's new Chief Whip, in charge of party discipline, who will attend Cabinet when necessary, played up his move from the Education portfolio, which he had shown a passion for in promoting the policy of free schools and stringent academic standards in England.

He declared he was "happy" with his new role, which, he insisted, would allow him to "shape the agenda".

Mr Gove, born in Edinburgh and raised in Aberdeen, denied it was a demotion, adding: "Demotion, emotion, promotion, locomotion, I don't know how you would describe this move, though move it is."

In contrast, the teaching unions in England and Wales, which had fiercely opposed his reforms and which Mr Gove had derided as being part of the educational establishment "blob", were delighted to see him go.

Christine Blower, from the National Union of Teachers, stressed that Mr Gove had lost the confidence of the profession and said: "I would imagine there are lots of faces wreathed in smiles in staff rooms today."

Meantime, Ofsted chief Sir Michael Wilshaw said he was "surprised and shocked" by Mr Gove's departure from Education, adding: "I'm a great admirer of the Secretary of State; he's been a transformative and radical minister of education."

Downing Street insisted the 47-year-old politician's new job was "absolutely not" a downward push while the Prime Minister also talked up his new role; already dubbed "Minister for TV".

He said his friend and colleague would "have an enhanced role in campaigning and doing broadcast media interviews".

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Happy Gove loses education to become 'Minister for TV'