Unlike in the Republic, where mid-term unforced Cabinet reshuffles are a rarity, Britain's PM Tony Blair is scheduled to re-jig his front bench in June. The move with greatest consequence here concerns Northern Secretary Mo Mowlam. The word from Westminster is that she wants out, two years is long enough and she's been the most successful ever in the dreaded job. They say she wants to be Home Secretary, and so great is her standing in the party and with the public, that she'll probably get it.
The current holder of what is Britain's ministry of justice, Jack Straw, has had a rough time lately. The damning criticism of the police in the report on the Lawrence murder inquiry and the debacle over its release, may have been his death-knell. Incidentally, one of the officers heavily criticised for his role in the inquiry was Jonathan McIvor, son of the former Northern politician Basil McIvor. Before the report came out McIvor returned to work in Belfast where he was heading up an RUC training division. He now works in Enniskillen.
Reshuffles are rare here because: a) coalitions make them more difficult (remember Garret FitzGerald's run-in with Labour minister Barry Desmond?), b) they can be too destabilising for a minority government hanging on for dear life and c) Bertie Ahern doesn't like causing offence to anyone - an unavoidable consequence. Blair, on the other hand, has so big a majority that if he didn't shuffle the jobs around a bit there would be even more dissent on the back-benches.