Cabinet reshuffles, IT gains

The promotion of former ecommerce minister Patricia Hewitt to the top job at the Department of Trade and Industry is excellent news for the IT industry.

Appointed as the UK's first e-minister 18 months ago, there have been a few ups and downs along the way.

To be specific, the downs were IR35, RIP, unbundling of the local loop and the Private Security Industry Bill (to name the most obvious).

But there have been ups as well, and overall silicon.com was impressed with how quickly Hewitt managed to get to grips with such a diverse and complicated portfolio.

More importantly, there is now a voice in the Cabinet for ecommerce.

For years now, Labour have been trying to convince us that every Cabinet minister had an IT element to their portfolio. Maybe that was true, but it was fairly clear that no one knew what it was or where to find it. And the claims of Tony Blair to be the 'champion of ecommerce' never did ring quite true, although at least he can send an email now (or so we are told).

Battles with the Home Office won't get any easier, but at least now the high-tech industry has a real chance to make itself heard above the noise.

What Hewitt does with that opportunity is up to her, and she now has a much wider brief to contend with than simply ecommerce. But if the industry can make the most of its relationship with her, the omens at least look good.