Revolving door for housing ministers

Did you know that the new housing minister is the ninth since labour came to power in 1997? They are:

1997 – Hilary Armstrong
1999 – Nick Raynsford
2001 – Lorde Falconer
2002 – Lord Rooker
2003 – Keith Hill
2005 – Yvette Cooper
2006 – Ruth Kelly
2007 – Hazel Blears
2008 – Caroline Flint
2008 - Margaret Beckett
2009 – John Healey

How can the department hope to have a consistent policy with so many different ministers? Roof Magazine (the source of this information) is generally approving of Mr Healey’s appointment. However with a general election looming on the horizon, he is obviously not going to have that long in post.

From the press one rather gets the impression that ministerial posts are mere tokens of Prime Ministerial approval or disapproval (depending on the post). However they are also government departments that affect all our lives. It would be nice if after the election, the next housing minister (assuming he or she is effective) could stay with us a bit longer.