'A totally embarrassing conveyor belt': 15th housing minister since 2010 ousted in reshuffle

Rachel Maclean was appointed Minister of State at the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities on 7 February 2023. Credit: gov.uk

“A totally embarrassing conveyor belt of housing ministers,” is how a senior source in the Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities described the decision to sack Rachel Maclean to me. She was the 15th housing minister since 2010. 

The MP announced her departure on X formerly known as Twitter on Monday lunchtime, the day before she was due to introduce the government’s Renters Reform Bill in the House of Commons – landmark legislation designed to better protect renters.  

I am told that role may now reluctantly fall to her old boss Michael Gove, the current Housing Secretary, who is said to be unhappy about the decision by Downing Street to sack her.

Fellow cabinet minister Kemi Badenoch has tweeted her support for Maclean and is also frustrated by her removal. 

When I interviewed Mr Gove this time last year, I asked him what it had been like having to work with six different housing ministers in 12 months. “Sub-optimal” was his typically dry, understated reply.  

The decision to remove Rachael Maclean was not expected.

A DLUHC source said that although she was “gaffe-prone” she was “fundamentally decent and had the genuine support of Michael Gove”. 

It has not been to save her though, and Rishi Sunak follows in the long prime ministerial tradition of concluding the best way to fix Britain’s ever growing housing crisis is inconsistency in decision making.  

After all, Manchester United’s greatest period of success in the last 35 years has come when they consistently changed managers. Oh wait...

The 16th housing minister in 13 years inherits a host of complex and costly problems worsening by the day.  

More than 131,000 children are currently homeless in England, living in temporary accommodation. 

Local councils have written to the chancellor warning him they are running out of money to house the ever-growing number of families becoming homeless with eye-watering hotel bills.

There are 1.1 million households in England on a waiting list for social housing. Last year, just 7528 social homes were built.  

Private rents are at record high, buy-to-let landlords are defaulting on their mortgages and no-fault evictions are up 38% in a year. 

And by the time the 16th housing minister gets a grip on these problems and more, it’ll be time for a general election. If they last that long in post.

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