"Any politician coming up to a reshuffle should have in the back of his mind that his services may come to an end.
Last month's shadow cabinet reshuffle saw Harriet Harman take on the role of shadow secretary of state for culture, media and sport, while Dan Jarvis, who was elected MP for Barnsley Central in a by-election in March this year, has been made shadow culture minister.
Government insiders insisted the reshuffle was tantamount to window-dressing, aimed at placating the bodies that had blamed Varoufakis for the lack of headway.
A final reshuffle, four years into a five-year electoral cycle, is clearly largely about perception.
The school trended on Twitter on Tuesday morning, with many users suggesting that Tomlinson should take over as education secretary after Michael Gove was ousted in the reshuffle.
Related: Grant Shapps sacked from cabinet in Cameron's reshuffle Two senior figures have lost the right to attend cabinet: Grant Shapps, the Tory chairman, who was demoted to an international development minister, and Eric Pickles, the communities secretary, who will become the government's anti-corruption tsar.
The Lib Dems have delayed their ministerial reshuffle until the autumn to distance themselves from the Tory changes this week as part of their "differentiation strategy".
And that is where this reshuffle falls down.
Several ministerial aides could also resign, throwing away their chances of promotion to junior ministerial rank in the next reshuffle.
Grieve, who was sacked in the last cabinet reshuffle after vocally opposing Conservative demands to withdraw from the ECHR, has now widened his attack to warn about the dangers of retreat to a policy of "isolationism".
Speaking on his weekly LBC radio phone-in, the deputy prime minister said: "The real significance of this week's Conservative party reshuffle was nothing to do with gender balance.
