Despite David Cameron failing on his long-stated intent that one third of his cabinet would be female, there are now at least more women in cabinet than old Etonians in a highly tactical reshuffle that has its focus firmly on the 2015 General election.

Still lagging behind in most opinion polls and far from the 6-7% lead over Labour that Cameron will need to secure an overall majority next May - theres iron focus from number 10 on the tough task ahead of the next election.

And it presents a potentially uncomfortable challenge for Labour and Ed Miliband in particular. The reshuffle shows the Tories are trying to make the election more about personality than policy.

If they can succeed in this aim, then it can only be bad news for Miliband, who cannot match Camerons presentational skills.

It is clear that the PM is keen to send a personal message to the nation with this particular shuffling of the deck. Ministers toxic to the potential of a Conservative majority in 2015, the need to present government as less of a old, male-dominated chumocracy, Europe and the desire to avoid difficult by-elections also play a key part of this reshuffle.

In terms of making the cabinet younger the departure of experienced older male players like Ken Clarke were tipped by many Westminster watchers. However in a surprise move from a previously loyal Cameron, Michael Gove is now out of education, to be replaced by Nicky Morgan. Its unlikely Nicky Morgan or any of the new batch of ministerial appointments will have a major effect on actual policy with less than 10 months left of a Government thats already run out of legislation ideas the Coalition can agree upon.

But this shock appointment ticks two important boxes - Morgan is both female and more importantly, shes not Michael Gove .

There are around 875,000 teachers, teaching assistants, support and ancillary staff employed just in publicly-funded schools. This measure alone bring a figure of 1,350 per Westminster seat. Add to that partners, retirees, family and friends and youre looking at an enormous voter group. And with the election likely to be won or lost in marginal seats, where majorities are measured in hundreds rather than thousands, its easy to see why Cameron feared Gove becoming a liability.

Goves education reform proposals have been bitterly opposed by teachers - one poll showed opposition to his performance-related pay proposal at 75% among LEA maintained schools. Goves association with Free schools policy and its recent controversies over teaching standards and Trojan Horse plots has also done little to improve his popularity.

Before the last election, one polling company found teachers voting intention broke down as CON 33% LAB 32% LD 27%. By 2014 polling of the same segment by the same company had the Tories at just 16%, Labour on a significant 57% and the Lib Dems on just 8%.

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David Cameron's culling of Old Etonian chums is a reshuffle masterstroke

4:30pm, Tue 15 Jul 2014 Cabinet reshuffle: Hammond in for Hague as Foreign Secretary - last updated Tue 15 Jul 2014 David Cameron has rung the changes to his team with a host of new positions awarded at 10 Downing Street. Photo: Stefan Rousseau/PA Wire

Prime Minister David Cameron has reshuffled his pack of secretaries and ministers as he bids to win an outright majority at next year's election and end the era of Coalition government.

The highest profile change has seen former defence secretary Philip Hammond replace William Hague as Foreign Secretary and Michael Gove switched from Education Secretary to Chief Whip.

Gove's replacement is Nicky Morgan, one of a number of women handed significant roles following criticism of Mr Cameron's male-led administration.

Here's a guide to the big movers and new faces in the Cabinet, followed by a complete list of the reshuffle:

Nicky Morgan - Education Secretary (replacing Michael Gove)

The promotion to Education Secretary completes a rapid rise through the ranks for the 41-year-old corporate lawyer, who was made a ministerial aide within months of entering Parliament in 2010, a whip in 2012 and a junior Treasury minister last October.

Educated at Surbiton High School and St Hugh's College, Oxford, she notably voted against same-sex marriage on the basis of her Christianity.

Morgan has added responsibility for equalities to her previous brief as minister for women, though due to her opposition will not be given responsibility for implementing gay marriage legislation.

Liz Truss - Environment Secretary (replaces Owen Patterson)

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New faces and big movers in the Cabinet reshuffle

One longstanding friend of William Hagues said hed lost his appetite for top level British politics. He knew George Osborne (once his aide) wanted his job if the Tories were re-elected. Hed had his one pitch for the top job in 2001 as leader of the Tories in opposition. He didnt want to be chancellor. Pretending to run again for his seat when he didnt have his heart in it wasnt his style.

Knowing this the duo at the top of the party wondered whether they could lure Mr Hague to square their problems over filling the European Commission slot. But Mr Hague wasnt interested. Hed like another big international job if it came along but not that one.

Mr Hague was very wounded by the collapsed attempt to lead military intervention in Syria. Mr Osborne and David Cameron spun round to give a blanket promise not to go near the idea again. Hague was less comfortable with what they saw as necessary trimming.

In Whitehall in recent months you found a lot of people who said the outgoing foreign secretary had lost his motivation but not many who thought hed move out of post ahead of the election. Hell stay in the Cabinet as leader of the Commons in what has become the departure lounge of British front bench politics.

Read more:Ken Clarke may be dispensable but dont expect him to go quietly

Although he was deputy prime minister in waiting when the Tories came to office the coalition scuppered that notion. Mr Cameron and Mr Osborne liked having him in the room for strategic chat but the Tory arm of this government was always more of a duumvirate than a triumvirate.

Philip Hammond, his expected replacement, is more instinctively cautious of intervention than his predecessor. Critically, he would start as a more thorough-going Eurosceptic than Mr Hague had become at the time of his FCO departure.

Hes openly contemplated leaving the EU, a position Mr Cameron has (so far) refused to utter. But Philip Hammond has been heard to recite loyally the prime ministers pretty minimilast (to core Euroscpetics minds) version of EU renegotiation as written in the Sunday Telegraph ahead of this years Euro elections.

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Cabinet reshuffle: William Hague quits

London (dpa) - British Prime Minister David Cameron carried out the biggest cabinet reshuffle of his term on Tuesday, promoting several women in an apparent effort to attract female voters ahead of next years general election.

Defence Secretary Philip Hammond is also replacing Foreign Secretary William Hague, who announced his own resignation unexpectedly late Monday, and said he would not be standing for parliament again.

Michael Fallon, who first had a ministerial role under Margaret Thatcher in the 1980s, is to take on the defence portfolio.

Around a dozen men are leaving their ministerial posts, in what British media dubbed the "massacre of the men in suits" or a cull of the "male, stale and pale."

The opposition Labour party has in the past been able to attack Cameron for the lack of female faces on his front bench - until now there had been only three women in the cabinet, including Home Secretary Teresa May.

In the first of several high profile appointments, Minister for Women Nicky Morgan replaced Michael Gove as education secretary and education minister Liz Truss was given Owen Patersons portfolio as environment secretary.

Esther McVey, a former breakfast television presenter, is to keep her portfolio as minister for employment and disabilities but will now also attend cabinet and is expected to continue as a prominent spokesperson for the government.

A former head of corporate affairs for the BBC, Baroness Stowell, was appointed as leader of the House of Lords, Britains upper chamber, and so will also have a seat in cabinet.

The reshuffle is being seen as preparation for the general election in May, and is also setting a new tone for Britains relations with Europe.

While Hague was reportedly well liked among his European counterparts and was committed to remaining in the European Union, his replacement, Hammond, last year said if the bloc did not reform he would be in favour of a British exit.

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1ST LEAD Cameron reshuffles British cabinet, Hammond replaces Hague By Helen Livingstone, dpa

An undated picture from davidwilletts.co.uk.

Update: Conservative MP Greg Clark will replace David Willettsas minister for universities and science.

UK universities and science minister David Willetts resigned from his role on 14 July as part of a cabinet reshuffle.

A replacement has yet to be announced for the popular minister known as two brains because of his reputed intellectual abilities who has served in the role since 2010. Willetts is reported to also be standing down as member of parliament for Havant at the coming election.

Leading voices from the UK scientific community were quick to praise Willetts.

David Willetts is one of the UKs sharpest and most talented politicians; weve been extraordinarily privileged to have him as the UKs science minister for the past four years, said Imran Khan, chief executive of the British Science Association and former director of the Campaign for Science and Engineering, in a statement.

We in the science sector like to moan about there not being enough scientists in Parliament, but it was obvious from early on that Willetts despite not having had much to do with science previously developed a genuine passion for the subject. Youd be hard-pressed to find many in our sector who have a bad word to say about him, he added.

Under his watch, science received a static 4.6-billion (US$7.9 billion) budget in 2010s austere spending review, seen as such a good settlement at the time that it earned the new minister a bouquet of white lilies and roses from one awaiting journalist.

In-depth knowledge of his brief and advocacy for science mean Willetts has remained popular throughout his term. This is despite a rising clamour around the impact of the flat cash budget which inflation is set to erode by an estimated 1 billion by the end of 201516 as well as the instability caused by slashing and rebuilding piecemeal of infrastructure spending.

The president of the Royal Society, Paul Nurse, said in a statement that Willetts had been an outstanding science minister, respected not only in the UK but throughout the world.

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Scientists praise outgoing UK science minister

Hague resigned on Monday night ahead of an expected cabinet reshuffle by British Prime Minister David Cameron.

"Tonight I am standing down as Foreign Secretary after four years to serve as Leader of the House of Commons," Hague wrote on Twitter, adding that he would not stand as a member of parliament in the next UK general election.

"Renewal in politics is good, and holding office is not an end in itself," added Hague, who will remain in the cabinet as Leader of the House of Commons.

Recent years have seen him involved with numerous diplomatic efforts including Ukraine and, more notably, Syria.

Although Cameron's reshuffle was expected as he draws the battle lines ahead of a general election next year, there had been no prediction of Hague's resignation. Hague's expected replacement has been touted as current Defense Secretary Philip Hammond.

Hague, who served briefly in the cabinet of former British Prime Minister John Major, was leader of the Conservative Party from June 1997 to September 2001. He became Foreign Secretary in the aftermath of the Conservative Party and Liberal Democrat election victory in 2010.

Hague famously made his debut on the political stage at the age of 16, giving a speech at a 1977 party conference in front of then-leader Margaret Thatcher.

Among the others to depart a ministerial post was Tory stalwart Kenneth Clarke - a committed member of the party's pro-Europe faction - who leaves his role as minister without portfolio.

The cabinet reshuffle is expected to be used as an opportunity for Cameron to fill more government roles with women.

rc/bk (AP, AFP, dpa, Reuters)

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British Foreign Minister William Hague steps down

William Hague quits as Foreign Secretary as part of Cabinet reshuffle

Updated 11:21pm Monday 14th July 2014 in News By Andrew Douglas, Deputy News Editor

Quit: William Hague

WILLIAM Hague has tonight quit as foreign secretary and announced he will stand down as Richmond MP at next year's general election.

The shock news came as the Prime Minister cleared the way for a younger generation - and more women - to take their places at the Cabinet table.

Mr Hague, 53, will take up the lesser role of Leader of the Commons and spearhead the Tory campaign in key constituencies, particularly in the North, until he leaves his safe seat after 26 years.

He said: "I wish to thank my constituents in Richmond, Yorkshire, one of the greatest places on earth, for their emphatic support through thick and thin over such a long period." "I will serve them with unabated energy between now and the general election, and I look forward to supporting my eventual successor.

"I am delighted to be able to serve as Leader of the House of Commons, and to be able to campaign for Conservative candidates across the country. I want to finish in frontline politics as I began - speaking in Parliament and campaigning on international causes I believe in."

"By the time of the general election next year, I will have served 26 years in the House of Commons and it will be 20 years since I first joined the Cabinet.

"In government there is a balance to strike between experience on the one hand and the need for renewal on the other, and I informed the prime minister last summer that I would not be a candidate at the next general election."

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William Hague quits as Foreign Secretary as part of Cabinet reshuffle

CAPE GIRARDEAU, MO (KFVS) -

?Here is a list of road projects around the Heartland scheduled for Tuesday, July 15.

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 51 in Butler County will be closed as Missouri Department of Transportation crews perform pipe replacement. The road is located between Route 53 and Route N. Weather permitting, work will performed Monday, July 14 and Tuesday, July 15 from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. daily.

On June 23, Middle Street from Broadway to Themis and the intersection of Themis-Middle will be closed as the Broadway storm water relief sewer work continues through this area. Depending on weather and other factors, this work could take approximately three weeks.

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.

Carter County, MO

Roadwork continues on Route 21 from Ripley to Carter County from US 60 to US 160 until Nov. 1.

New Madrid County, MO

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Heartland road projects for 7/15

CAPE GIRARDEAU, MO (KFVS) -

?Here is a list of road projects around the Heartland scheduled for Saturday, July 12.

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 51 in Butler County will be closed as Missouri Department of Transportation crews perform pipe replacement. The road is located between Route 53 and Route N. Weather permitting, work will performed Monday, July 14 and Tuesday, July 15 from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. daily.

On June 23, Middle Street from Broadway to Themis and the intersection of Themis-Middle will be closed as the Broadway storm water relief sewer work continues through this area. Depending on weather and other factors, this work could take approximately three weeks.

Route AA in Cape County will be reduced to one lane as Missouri Department of Transportation crews perform pavement repairs. This section of road is located from Route B to end of state maintenance. Weather permitting, work will on Monday, July 7 through and Friday, July 11 from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily.

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.

Carter County, MO

Roadwork continues on Route 21 from Ripley to Carter County from US 60 to US 160 until Nov. 1.

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Heartland road projects for 7/12

PATERSON Mayor Jose Joey Torres will collect the same $119,000 salary that his predecessor Jeffery Jones received, according to acting city business administrator Nellie Pou.

Paterson City Hall

Pou disclosed Torres salary in announcing that the state had signed off on the new mayors Cabinet appointees and their pay. For the most part, the administrators salaries match what members of Jones staff made.

Were trying to achieve parity here, Pou said.

For Torres, his mayors salary represents a significant pay cut. As business administrator in Jackson Township in Ocean County he had been making more than $125,000. In addition to that, Torres has been getting $36,000 per year as part-time administrator of the Bunker Hill Special Improvement District in Paterson.

Torres said recently that he would give up the Bunker Hill position. The groups board is in the process of looking for his replacement, Torres said.

Meanwhile, after waiting a week for state approval, Torres Cabinet is now in place. The city had decided not to disclose the administrators salaries until after the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs signed off on them.

Heres the breakdown provided by Pou:

Cabinet members who Torres chooses to appoint as permanent members of his administration must get the consent of the City Council.

Council Finance Chairman Kenneth Morris said he would prefer that the city establish salary ranges under a system that he said would allow the mayor to bring in more qualified people and provide incentives the directors for doing a good job.

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Paterson mayors salary set at $119,000