Cabinet Office press team out the loop as Angela Smith gets lobbying brief

Praise the Lord! We finally have a new minster responsible for lobbying.

Cabinet Office minister Angela Smith has just appeared before the public administration select committee, thus confirming that she has taken over Ton Watson’s old portfolio. She told the committee she planned to respond to their report on lobbying ‘before the recess’.

Just four months late then…

I wonder if anybody has bothered to fill in the Cabinet Office press office on these developments. When I called just yesterday, they had no idea whether Smith was in charge of lobbying or not.

UPDATE: The Cabinet Office press office  insists the reason they didn’t know yesterday lunchtime is because no decision had been made at that point. This suggests that the decision to give lobbying to Smith was made just hours before her appearance at the select committee this morning. If this is the case then she’s clearly a fast learner…