Cameron promotes minister who tried to resign into the Cabinet

The Tory Leader in the Lords, Lord Strathclyde, has resigned today – which considering today is “relaunch day” seems odd to say the least.

Stranger still though is his replacement – Lord Hill. The former political secretary to John Major tried to resign back in September at the last reshuffle – but failed as Cameron was too distracted. The Mail reported:

“In a scene that could have come from political satire The Thick Of It, sources say Mr Cameron was too distracted to realise his visitor was quitting.

Instead of accepting – or protesting – Lord Hill’s decision, he reportedly told him to carry on his good work, and strode out of the room after being told he was late for a photocall.

Lord Hill was left bemused – and very much still in his post. He went on to be the only member of Education Secretary Michael Gove’s team to survive the recent reshuffle.”

Now he’s in the Cabinet. The Omnishambles continues…

Update: Eagle-eyed George Eaton notes that Ed Miliband referred to Lord Hill in his conference speech:

“There is even a bloke, and I think they call him Lord Hill who went to see the Prime Minister. He made an appointment during the last reshuffle in order to resign. But David Cameron was too incompetent to notice that he wanted to resign. So Lord Hill is still in the Government. This lot are so useless they can’t even resign properly.”

An Labour source I spoke to this afternoon cited the Lord Hill promotion as “a new low” for the government.