No place in cabinet for housing ministers

Conservative Grant Shapps and Lib Dem Sarah Teather could both be in line for the job, but the only appointment of any significance to the housing sector so far has been that of Eric Pickles as communities secretary. In the last Labour government, housing was deemed a sufficiently important issue to merit housing minister John Healey a seat at cabinet meetings. But so far there is no sign of this under the new coalition. A list of senior ministers who attend cabinet meetings alongside the secretaries of state was published last night, and does not list the housing minister. Pickles...