GORDON Brown raised more than a few eyebrows this week when shaping his new government.
In his promising to pool "all the talents", he appointed former CBI chief Sir Digby Jones as a trade minister.
I find it a curious appointment mainly because Digby Jones is seen by most as 100% true blue Tory in his beliefs and attitudes, even by those on the centre Right of Labour.
Unsurprisingly, the news has not gone down well with grassroots Labour activists who were incensed at his performance on Friday's PM programme on Radio 4 when he wouldn't confirm whether he'd even vote Labour at the next election.
Maybe Gordon Brown, the clever tactician that he is, thinks it would be better to have Sir Digby, a vocal critic of government policy in the past, inside the tent spitting out rather than outside the tent spitting in.
The big question is that is this new consensus politics the way forward, or just a good way of brassing off party workers who don't like the top jobs going to people who aren't even fully paid up members?
One thing's for sure... when Brown hammered the word "change" in his speech outside Number 10 on Wednesday, he really did mean it.
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