Cabinet job snub as Cameron passes over Tory eurosceptic for post of Europe Minister




David Cameron risked a confrontation with the Tory Right yesterday by stripping his party’s eurosceptic wing of the symbolic post of Europe Minister.



Hardliners had expected that Mark Francois, the pugnacious holder of the post in opposition, would be given the job.



But in an attempt to appease pro-Brussels Liberal Democrats, Mr Cameron passed him over in favour of a moderate, David Lidington.

He is best known for having backed John Major during the bitter battles over his signing of the Maastricht Treaty in the early 1990s.





The appointment came as the Government faced its first blow from the European Union after France and Germany refused to delay controversial new plans to regulate hedge funds and private equity firms, which will be voted on in Brussels next week.

Britain had called for the vote to be postponed, arguing that the new government would not have enough time to prepare for the meeting on Tuesday, but Nicolas Sarkozy and Angela Merkel are determined to forge ahead.

Elena Salgado, the finance minister of Spain which currently holds the EU presidency, told the Financial Times: 'We have a sufficient qualified majority. There is a very clear majority of countries that want to approve it.' A senior German official added: 'We want this put to a vote next week.'



London is the centre of Europe's private equity activity and the City has 80 per cent of all European hedge funds. It is against the measures because they claim there are too restrictive.



David Cameron spoke to European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso and EU president Herman Van Rompuy on the phone for the first time today.

Downing Street said he had underlined his personal commitment to a 'practical and engaged relationship' with Europe and was looking forward to a 'close partnership' with the two men.



Controversial job: David Lidington has been named Europe Minister instead of Mark Francois, the pugnacious holder of the post in opposition



Many of Mr Cameron’s other ministerial appointments will disappoint Tory traditionalists. He more than 30 ministerial posts - six of which went to Liberal Democrats.

There were raised eyebrows over Lib Dem Nick Harvey landing the key post of armed forces minister - meaning he will oversee a war in Afghanistan that many in his party would like to abandon.

With tensions festering, the Prime Minister informed the first coalition government Cabinet for 65 years that he is setting up a special committee to referee disputes between Tory ministers and their Lib Dem colleagues.

It will be co-chaired by himself and Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg. Mr Cameron banned mobile devices from the Cabinet table and told his ministers they should keep their differences private and let the new coalition committee decide on arguments.



Lib Dem Vince Cable, the new Business Secretary, raised a laugh when he told ministers that his Indian relations say: ‘Arranged marriages often work better than one born out of love.’



But the appointments immediately created divisions. Arch-eurosceptic Bill Cash condemned the decision to ditch Mr Francois. ‘David Lidington is a well-established Europhile,’ he said. ‘It means they’ve overridden Mark Francois, who comes from the euro-realist wing of the party. It’s ridiculous.’



In the hours before the decision was announced, a Right-winger said: ‘It had better be Francois or there is going to be trouble.’ Friends of Mr Lidington – who is regarded as a straight bat in Westminster – pointed out that he is a eurosceptic but also a pragmatist.



With Mr Cameron forced to find posts for Lib Dems, he had to call many of his own frontbenchers to tell them they had missed out. One Tory frontbencher who lost a ministerial post went so far as to threaten a by-election. ‘I’m out of here,’ he said.

‘I’ve got a life and a family and I don’t need this. I’ve been doing this for 15 years and there will be a lot of people like me who might just walk away if there’s no chance of promotion.’



There were several notable nods to the right. John Hayes, a leading light in the socially conservative Cornerstone group, becomes a business minister. Thatcherite Gerald Howarth will be minister for defence procurement. Mike Penning, a close ally of Iain Duncan Smith, was made a transport minister.



Right-winger David Jones landed a job at the Welsh Office. Others to take key jobs included Damian Green, the new immigration minister, schools minister Nick Gibb and prisons minister Nick Herbert.



There was disquiet in Tory ranks yesterday over the appointment of Lib Dem Chris Huhne as energy and climate change secretary. He will have responsibility for a policy in which nuclear power will get the go ahead - even though he opposes it.



Lib Dem Sarah Teather becomes an education minister while another female politician, Justine Greening, a Tory, becomes Economic Secretary to the Treasury.

Top table paid back £50,000 in expenses

Members of the new Cabinet were made to repay more than £50,000 in expenses in the wake of last year’s scandal. The new Government yesterday cut ministerial salaries by 5 per cent and froze them for another five years as a mark of penitence for last year’s scandal.



Most of the MPs responsible for the most notorious expenses claims were either booted out or stood down at the election. Yet the new coalition Cabinet gave back £53,717 of taxpayers’ money that they should not have claimed - an average of more than £2,500 each.



David Cameron repaid £965, including £680 for the cost of clearing wisteria from the chimney of his Oxfordshire home – a claim he later said he regretted. His Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg, paid back £989, including £910 for ‘excessive’ gardening bills at his constituency home.



Defence Secretary Liam Fox had to repay one of the largest amounts of any MP - losing an appeal against a demand to hand back £22,476 for renovations and furniture at his second home.



Education Secretary Michael Gove returned £7,000 of public money after he claimed large amounts for furniture at his second home and another £13,000 in moving costs.

