THE JUDGES' FIRST CABINET
Prime Minister Deputy PM Chancellor Foreign Lord Chancellor Home Education/Employm Environment Leader of Commons Culture Cabinet Office International Develop Social Security Agriculture Leader of the Lords Trade/Industry Health Regions Defence Transport Treasury Chief Sec	Harriet Harman Tony Benn Peter Kilfoyle Martin Johnson Gordon Brown Yvette Cooper John Reid Clare Short Geoff Hoon Prince William John Redwood Nigella Lawson Sven Eriksson Peter Mandelson Henry McLeish Kenneth Clarke William Hague Helen Liddell Charles Kennedy Rhodri Morgan Eminem	54 44 38 33 32 26 26 26 25 25 24 21 20 20 18 18 17 17 16 16 15 531

Prime Minister in the first fantasy cabinet chosen by our judging panel is Harriet Harman. The enormous and largely favourable media coverage she got for her report on childcare (delivered under the auspices of the Day Care Trust) persuaded all the judges to score her highly. And, as a Bonus Player (see below), she qualified for double points. Tony Benn slipped in as Deputy PM for an outstanding performance on the BBC's Question Time. Peter Kilfoyle becomes Chancellor on the strength of being an old adversary of Peter Mandelson and being witty about this game ("don't we already have a fantasy cabinet?").

Among the celebrities, Martin Johnson, the England rugby captain, was a shoe-in as Foreign Secretary after the national team's outstanding win in Cardiff. Gordon Brown makes it in the rather uncomfortable position of Lord Chancellor; despite his usual professional performance, the judging panel marked him down after a select committee of MPs spotted that he was becoming too powerful. Geoff Hoon's place in our cabinet will surprise many; but the judges praised his unexpected wit in suggesting that Peter Mandelson still had a role in the election campaign - as a stuffer of envelopes and deliverer of leaflets.

And Mandelson himself? Here, the judges had a real dilemma. Last week, he was excluded from the game and replaced by Helen Liddell because his apparent loss of memory raised fears of concussion. Subsequent events - his spirited fightback, plus indications that memory loss was also widespread in the Home Office - persuaded the judges to readmit him as a Bonus Player in a special number 91 shirt.

The Tories were generally quiet, but William Hague scores well for his "people shouldn't pay tax twice" soundbite. Tony Blair? The judges thought he was off-colour. But there is time for recovery.

Among those marked down were Alastair Campbell for excessive lobby briefing; Michael Meacher for excessive home ownership; Lord Levy for excessive fundraising (not a respectable activity just now). The Corus closure led to minus points for Stephen Byers an embarrassing This Is Your Life gave a negative score to John Humphrys. George Carey lost a laptop in Lagos, while David Trimble lost a largely incomprehensible court case but, more important, spoke out against Rebel Heart, the BBC television series, thus giving it far more publicity than it would otherwise have had. On other players, the judges were divided. Did John Prescott deserve plus points or minus points for backing down on the public-private partnership for London's Tube? The scores are an average of the judges' awards. Yellow cards were awarded to several players (see panel above) for doing nothing much and being boring. (Others get 0, but no yellow card, because this was an average of plus and minus scores.) They include Ann Taylor, who caused similar trouble for the judges in 1997. She must raise her game, as must the Lib Dem team, apart from Charles Kennedy. A second yellow card, and they will be sent off and excluded from the game.

The winning cabinet (ie, the highest-scoring cabinet) from those submitted by entrants will be announced next week. Bonus points were awarded to four suggestions for Minister without Portfolio: Alan Greenspan, Polly Toynbee, John Rawls and Bob the Builder. A fifth would have got points if anybody had mentioned him. (If you can guess who he was, you'll get points next time.) Bonus points were also awarded to entrants who submitted the five outstanding campaign slogans: Winning without Spinning (from Alec Seysses of London, E1); It's difference that brings us together (from Franziska Marx of Morden); New Britain, new passports (from Paul Anderson of Beeston); One Nation Tonyism (from John Andrews of Daventry); and Stakeholders of the World Unite (from Lee Stapleton of Manchester).

Though we already have several hundred entries, it is not too late to enter the game. Choose your cabinet of 22 with 21 from the names above (including at least four, but not more than six, celebrities) and a Minister without Portfolio of your own choice, along with a campaign slogan. Our panel will award fortnightly scores, on a scale from -10 to +10, to each of the 91 players. Bonus Players score double. (For full details of the rules and scoring system, see the issue dated 29 January or go to our website at www.newstatesman.co.uk.) Each fortnight, the entrant whose chosen cabinet scores highest chooses between litre bottles of Plymouth Gin, Longmorn 15-year-old Single Malt and Bulleit Bourbon.

Remember that, in each fortnightly round of judging, the players start afresh. So Alastair Campbell, despite his shameful rating in this round, could come out as PM next time. The judging panel meets next on Tuesday 20 February; to be included in this second round, new entries (all existing entries will be included automatically) must reach the New Statesman, using the form below, by Monday 19 February. Players' scores will be published in the issue dated 26 February.

There is also a grand prize for the entrant whose cabinet scores the highest number of cumulative points over the entire game, which will end on the expected general election date of 3 May. Note that late entrants to the game will get average points for the weeks they have missed. However, to be eligible for the final prize, any entry must be included for at least four rounds, so no entries will be accepted after Monday 19 March.