Cameron’s reshuffle unravels in the Sunday papers

So how have Tory Ministers (and ex-ministers) reacted to the reshuffle. Not entirely well. Here are the selected highlights from today’s papers:

Owen Paterson (sacked): Asked Cameron ‘Do you actually want to win the Election?’, and said ‘If you sack me it is a smash in the teeth for the 12 million people who live in the countryside’.

Esther McVey (promoted, but only after staging a “sit-in”): “Esther did not mince her words. She told the PM she was not leaving the building until he gave her a new role. She sat at the Cabinet table while he ran around with staff trying to find a compromise.”

Liam Fox (offer a job he thought was too small for him): ‘You must be bloody joking. I assume the ambassadorship to the moon is taken?’

Ken Clarke (quit) : Attacks “rightwing headbangers” in his own party. Admits “I was very pleased to go to justice … and I had lots of views on it, but unfortunately my views didn’t coincide with No 10’s” because Cameron’s regime is “blisteringly rightwing on law and order”. Clarke even claims Downing Street lied and said he was ill to stop him from going on Question Time. He recounts how he tells fellow Tory MPs “I belong to a Conservative party that used to be able to win elections”. On the economy, the analysis is brutal – the recovery is “a work in progress” because “it’s not firmly enough rooted on a proper balance between manufacturing and a wide range of services and financial services”. The banking crisis “isn’t resolved”. The international outlook? “fragile”.

Well that could have gone better, couldn’t it Prime Minister…?