Big names survive
British Prime Minister David Cameron yesterday reshuffled his ailing coalition government, but kept unpopular finance minister George Osborne and foreign minister William Hague in their jobs.
While most of the cabinet big hitters emerged unscathed, Cameron promoted culture minister Jeremy Hunt, who has battled calls to resign over his closeness to Rupert Murdoch's media empire, to the health ministry.
The promotion of Hunt surprised political commentators.
Addressing one of the pressing issues in his in-tray as parliament returns to work after the summer break, Cameron sacked transport minister Justine Greening, who was seen as blocking the expansion of London's Heathrow airport.
Greening becomes international development minister while former chief whip Patrick McLoughlin takes over her transport brief, as the government faces increasingly urgent calls for an expansion of airport capacity in London.
In his first reshuffle since the coalition government came to power two and a half years ago, Cameron sought to rejuvenate the Conservative Party element in the cabinet with an eye on the next general election in 2015.
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