Sanctus – The Senate today, in a rare Saturday sitting, approved Chancellor Ethan Ringrose’s cabinet nominations following a small reshuffle after outgoing Foreign Secretary Kathryn’s Stewart resignation from the House of Deputies to take up the position of Director of the Sanctarian Intelligence Service. The biggest changes see Vice Chancellor Josephine Chari-Jones swap her Infrastructure portfolio for Justice & Equality, and former Ambassador to the World Assembly Bethany Greer being appointed as the new Foreign Secretary.
Greer’s move was unexpected as she has been in the House for only a few months, but it has been said by many Senators today that there is “undoubtedly” few deputies who are more experienced than she is. Though as Ambassador Greer tended to keep a low profile, she did commit in the Senate hearings yesterday evening to execute a “wide-ranging list of priorities” in the coming year, promising to embark on numerous trips to cement even further Sanctarian relationships with other countries in the region. Greer was unanimously approved by voice vote by the Senate today in recognition of the respect she holds across all parties, though it may partly be that Foreign Secretary is one role that typically does not have much of a say in domestic politics, where most Senators have an interest.
Xander Morgan, erstwhile Justice Secretary, was approved to take his old job of Infrastructure back, as he is doing a straight portfolio swap with Vice Chancellor Chari-Jones. Though the Senate too approved his new appointment, it was a little more divisive than Greer’s, with some SCP Senators saying his last period of time in the role was “subpar”. Nevertheless, most Senators of the opposite parties felt that to deny the Chancellor his “team” was “not in the spirit of Sanctarian politics”, and so Morgan will return to his old office in Singe Street on Monday morning.
Chari-Jones, swapping Infrastructure for Justice & Equality, faced yesterday evening a barrage of criticism from both opposition Senators and Senators from her own coalition party, the DLP. It was clear from the questions that the DLP have not been happy with her, or her Green Party colleagues’, performance in government to-date, with one DLP Senator admitting the only reason she was voting in favour of Chari-Jones’ nomination was to ensure the government didn’t collapse. Hardly confidence inspiring, and certainly will cause tensions in a coalition government that many fear won’t live out their five year term.
Speaking at a canton-event today following news of the Senate’s confirmation of his nominees, Chancellor Ringrose said he was “delighted to have a refocused team in place” and was “looking forward to seeing through the government’s priorities during the rest of the term”.
SOULLA WILDE, Political Correspondent
