16 June 2003

e-Ministers disappear in Government reshuffle

By Ian Cuddy

Downing Street's frontbench reshuffle has caused a major shake-up of ministers with eGovernment and IT responsibilities, with details of the new appointments in Whitehall yet to be finalised.

Lord Macdonald of Tradeston, the eGovernment Minister, resigned from this Cabinet Office post during last week's long-awaited reshuffle, after recently signalling his intention to retire.

Christopher Leslie, who became the Minister for e-Local Government last August, has been appointed as parliamentary under-secretary in the newly-created Department for Constitutional Affairs, which will incorporate most of the work of the Lord Chancellor's Department, as well as that of the Welsh and Scottish Offices.

The new Department will be headed by the Cabinet Office minister Lord Falconer.

Details of Mr Leslie's successor at the Deputy Prime Minister's Office had not been announced at the time of going to press.

The Department of Health has not yet confirmed who will take the ministerial portfolio covering health IT, previously the responsibility of Lord Hunt, who resigned last March over the Government's stance against Iraq, although this is expected to fall to Lord Warner of Brockley.

Elsewhere, Rosie Winterton, who was formerly a junior minister in the Lord Chancellor's Department with responsibility for the Public Records Office, has been promoted to Minister of State at the Department of Health. Another notable development is the appointment of Margaret Moran MP, one of Parliament's staunchest proponents of eDemocracy and a regular contributor to eGov monitor Weekly, as an assistant Government whip.