The Reshuffle - Blair's place in history

I was gobsmacked when I discovered that Margaret Beckett had been made Foreign Secretary yesterday. It does seem to me that her only expertise in international affairs is occasionally towing her caravan overseas (although doesn't she prefer the green fields of Britain?). Iain Dale has suggested an amusing little gizmo to put on the back of the van from now on.

I was even more devastated to hear that we now have Geoff "Buff"Hoon as Europe Minister. Why is that Blair seems to think that he can occupy the same job for ten years or so (and Gordon, of course, but that's another matter), but everyone else has to play musical chairs every few months, with the resultant drop in efficiency because Ministers are not on top of their briefs (and we all know what happens when that's the case)?

Having racked my brain, the only plausible explanation I can come up with for Beckett's appointment as Foreign Secretary is Blair's perpetual concern with his place in history. In this case, he does not want it to be said having been Prime Minister for nine/ten/eleven/twelve years (delete as appropriate) he never appointed a woman to one of the three great offices of state. Now he has.

Ugh.