Hugh Bayley has tasted high politics and now he returns to a life more normal. The York MP has become a victim of the high-profile reshuffle that Prime Minister Tony Blair has swept through following last week's election victory.
Alongside the headline-grabbing demotions such as Kate Hoey and Keith Vaz, Hugh Bayley has lost his job as a junior social security minister.
We extend our sympathies to Mr Bayley, who must wonder at the giddying fluctuations of political life. Last week he was returned as York's MP for a third successive time, and with another handsome majority; this week he has lost his ministerial job.
While Mr Bayley might feel he stands under a black cloud at present, that flash of light you can see is a silver lining for York. Mr Bayley will now be free to spend more time with his constituency - and, of course, his own family.
The very great demands placed on any minister, however junior, make life difficult for the local MP. We expect a lot of ministers, who combine the rigours of a difficult Government job with the grass-roots demands of a local MP. Inevitably, the MP who is also a minister will find that impossible calls are made on their time, and it is difficult not to conclude that the local constituency will lose out.
And as Mr Bayley himself pointed out when he was made a minister in 1999, "People always warn you when you get a job that eventually every political career ends in tears".
While he might be feeling bruised today, at least he can now concentrate all his energies on York.
And as Mr Bayley leaves the Government, higher up the political tree Mr Blair has announced a large increase in pay for Cabinet ministers. The Prime Minister has awarded himself a 41 per cent rise of £50,000, delayed from 1997.
These rises come at an extremely bad time. For a prime minister who fought the election on improving public services, such increases look like thoughtless and tactless extravagance.
Updated: 12:21 Tuesday, June 12, 2001
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