THE cabinet casualty list is a long one: Theresa May has lost seven ministers in the past nine months. The departures of Boris Johnson, the foreign secretary, and David Davis, the Brexit secretary, this week were only the noisiest revolution of a ministerial carousel that has been spinning since the end of last year (see chart). The result is a cabinet filled with people of a very different outlook to those they replaced. Bluster and blagging are out. The new foreign secretary, Jeremy Hunt, who was previously in charge of health, is a technocrat with a quiet radicalism—the direct opposite of Mr Johnson, who preferred rhetoric to detail. Dominic Raab, the new Brexit secretary, has similarly Eurosceptic views to his predecessor, but a rather different attitude to work. Colleagues commend Mr Raab’s productivity, which was not a compliment often paid to Mr Davis. The cabinet is now “a much more professional outfit”, points out one aide, tartly.

The careful balance of ministers based on their Brexit views has gone. Remainers now rule, grumble Brexiteers. The four most senior members of the government—prime minister, chancellor, home and foreign secretaries—backed Remain, even though they have all since converted to the Brexit cause. As important, the cabinet is now dominated by those with pro-business instincts. Philip Hammond, the chancellor, made pots of cash before becoming an MP. Sajid Javid, who was made home secretary in April, was a banker. Mr Hunt set up a PR consultancy and a publishing house (after an ill-fated attempt to export marmalade to Japan). In one of many undiplomatic statements, Mr Johnson reportedly declared: “Fuck business.” Similar outbursts from his successor are unlikely.

Likewise, Messrs Hammond, Hunt and Javid share a view on immigration. The new home secretary merrily tramples on the prime minister’s target of getting net migration below 100,000 a year. One of his first actions was to team up with Mr Hunt to make it easier for medics to immigrate. This liberal worldview will be boosted by the promotion of Matt Hancock, who now rules the health department and has similar instincts. Before becoming an MP, Mr Hancock was chief of staff to the then-shadow chancellor George Osborne, a leader of the Tories’ liberal wing.

Mrs May has tried to stamp that liberalism out of the party. Indeed, whereas those around the prime minister may be unashamedly pro-business and pro-migration, Mrs May herself is wary of both, cautions one MP. Yet a hobbled, distracted Downing Street means that departments with a little wherewithal can do what they like, points out one cabinet minister.

In any case, the cabinet clear-out has left it fresher. Old-timers such as Mr Davis, who was an MP under Margaret Thatcher, have been replaced. Fifteen of the 29 people who crowd around the coffin-shaped table in Downing Street were elected only in 2010.

Blooding newish MPs is key to the Conservatives’ post-Brexit future. The party has a talented crop of MPs elected in 2015 and 2017 who are stranded on the backbenches. These bright sparks make a stark contrast to the remaining bed-blockers in the cabinet, whose records are poor.

An attempt to freshen up the cabinet in January flopped, when Mrs May proved too weak to force some dud ministers out of their jobs. Now, however, some of the deadwood has at last been cleared. “She botched the reshuffle in January,” says one former Downing Street adviser. “But we seem to be getting there somewhat accidentally anyway.”