Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ

So Lord Ashdown has turned it down and it looks like the two Davids aren't heading Hillsborough way either (aka Lords Steel and Trimble). The rumour going around Stormont today was that the Policing Minister Paul Goggins might get promotion. But could Gordon Brown really hand him the keys to the castle?

There's a certain logic as the next Secretary of State's main job will be handing over the justice powers which Mr Goggins now holds. But it would also be a surprising step up as it would mean him leaping the Minister of State level to somersault from Parliamentary Under Secretary to Secretary of State.

Of course the former Shadow NI Secretary Quentin Davies is now available after his defection from the Tories. He would keep alive a dog lovers' tradition at Hillsborough of which Peter Mandelson was the most recent exponent (whenever Mr Davies used to come over to Belfast my spies tell me he used to bring his dog to the hotel with him).

There are two arguments against. First, he told the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ's Evening Extra tonight he wanted to get used to his new party as a backbencher. Second, being a member of the Labour party appears to be a disqualification in this cabinet reshuffle.

I gather the first Brown Cabinet meeting has been pencilled in for the unusually late time of 6pm on Thursday which may mean that we won't have confirmation of who Peter Hain's successor will be until sometime on Thursday afternoon.

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