Reshuffles can be a brutal business. Careers can be ended, departments disrupted, policies paused or abandoned. Ministers leave their office one moment only to discover they have lost their job, office, civil service team, a full and interesting diary, driver and car, and status.
My personal experience was better than most. As a junior minister my departmental boss – George Osborne – always made it clear to me in advance that he wanted me to stay as part of his Treasury team which suited me nicely.
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