A volunteer no more

No wonder he's smiling. Having toiled as Harriet Harman's
deputy for the past eight months, Chris Bryant has finally been put on the Government payroll.

The newly-promoted Foreign Office Minister will be around £30,000 a year richer after Gordon Brown completed his reshuffle of junior government posts.

Although once known as an ultra-Blairite, the Rhondda MP was among those involved in the coup against Tony Blair in late 2006.

Others involved in the coup against Blair, such as Wayne David and Mark Tami, have prospered in a Brown Government, although Mr Tami also had to get by on his backbencher's salary for a while.

Another who resigned as an (unpaid) parliamentary aide in the Blair administration, Ian Lucas, was today promoted from assistant whip to junior Minister in the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills under the unofficial deputy PM Lord Mandelson.

As the Wrexham MP puts it: “It will be very exciting to work with Lord Mandelson and other colleagues in the department."

Cock of the south

Gordon Brown's government reshuffle continues. You didn't expect the PM to take Sunday off, did you?

Welsh angles so far: Wayne David replaces Huw Irranca-Davies at the Wales Office. Huw's reward for his on-message blogging is promotion to DEFRA, where his views on hunting might please the odd farmer.

Wayne is replaced as Welsh Whip by Mark Tami from Alyn and Deeside. His job as unpaid assistant whip goes to Ian Lucas of Wrexham. Both took part in the coup against Tony Blair in September 2006 so will need supreme political skills to play the loyalty card with sceptical backbenchers.

Kevin Brennan is promoted to the Cabinet Office and Chris Bryant gets his first ministerial job as deputy leader of the House of Commons.

The Mail on Sunday has lifted the lid on the names of Cheryl Gillan's Buff Orpington chickens.

"I called the two hens Marilyn Monroe and Diana Dors because of their blonde feathers and the cock is Boris because one of his tail feathers sticks out like Boris Johnson's hair." Well, that's her explanation.

The Mail also suggests Gordon Brown is considering an unlikely comeback for yet another Minister who have previously fallen from grace - David Blunkett. At this rate, it won't be long before Ron Davies is standing by his phone.....*

*Apologies to Peter Black who thought of that joke 24 hours before I blogged it. I really must spend more of my weekends reading Peter's blog.

Do as I say......

Gordon Brown will doubtless appreciate today's professions of loyalty from his Welsh flock.

Don Touhig and Chris Bryant are among twenty backbenchers who've signed a letter to their colleagues urging them to stand up and be counted as loyal supporters of the Prime Minister.

Letter-writing is something of a habit for Mr Bryant at this time of year. His last letter was accompanied by a number of resignations from junior members of the Government, among them Mark Tami and Ian Lucas.

Two years on from the coup against Tony Blair, Mr Tami is now one of those in charge of enforcing party discipline and loyalty and Mr Lucas offers his own advice to Government Whips:

"I would hope the individuals trying to create friction will be spoken to very firmly and that is certainly what I will be saying to colleagues."

Crisis? What crisis?!

No, this isn't a Peter Hain fund-raising event, even if some of his friends do appear prominently in the photograph.

North Wales MPs got together to promote the addition of Snowdonia Cheese on the menu in the Members' dining room.

Chris Ruane said, "It is important to us that we promote welsh produce here in London and more specifically here in the Commons."

MPs have their own favourites. Betty Williams, Martyn Jones and Ian Lucas are fans of "Black Bomber", Chris Ruane, David Hanson and Mark Tami prefer the 'Red Devil' - and Albert Owen's choise is 'Green Thunder.'

Snowdonia Cheese also supply Ginger Spice, Pickle Power, Purple Passion and Amber Mist - the latter is a medium cheddar laced with whisky in an orange wax.