One Minister collects our taxes while the other pays them back; can you tell who is who?

I must be careful to get our ministers right. The Chancellor the Exchequer has the red tie , while the SOS of DWP has a purple one. But their is a haunting similarity!

I am pleased that Pat McFadden (purple) is staying at DWP, he is a steady hand after a rocky couple of years. John Healey is the second Healey to take the top job at the Treasury, the other one was also a Labour man.

Denis Winston Healey, chancellor of the Exchequer (1974-79) and Labour’s indomitable intellectual brawler, soaked up pressure like few politicians could.

There is an old Labour feel to this duo!

I write early on the Tuesday morning, we have had announcements of the ins and outs to the cabinet and today we may hear about the next level down. I hope we have continuity at Pensions as we have with Pat McFadden. We are only starting to implement the changes put in place by Torsten Bell and he knew his stuff when he arrived in the job. I can understand why he may be wanted elsewhere but he is wanted by folks left to do the job set us.

Of course the Pension Minister has one foot in the Treasury and one in the DWP and he will need to be careful not to mistake his (or her) senior Treasury minister.

Healey is not a common name;-  except at No. 11

Theformer Chancellor named Denis Healey had a sad end;-   we do not wish John the same end.

Forty Nine years ago,  sterling crashed to its lowest ever point against the dollar. The other Healey stared down his socialist opponents and asked the IMF for a loan – paving the way for Margaret Thatcher’s election victory.