David's pain is Rachel's gain as his geopolitical dream fades into a legal nightmare

Spare a thought for David Lammy. Not so long ago he was foreign secretary. His dream job. Turning left when boarding planes to go to meet his counterparts. An important player in global geopolitics. Then he found himself out on his ear. Replaced by Yvette Cooper, who had been booted out of the Home Office for being perceived to be soft on asylum seekers.

- John Crace

But at least Yvette got to fail upwards. Lammy just found himself downgraded to justice secretary. A department that has been unloved, downgraded and underfunded for years. Worse still, David now finds himself being forced to advocate policies the old David Lammy never once dreamed of backing. Even as foreign secretary he would have been shaking his head in disapproval. Yet needs must.

Still, one man's pain was another woman's gain. For Rachel Reeves there was the relief that the dial had finally shifted on the budget. The worst of the storm had passed, most of the rightwing papers had dialled down their interest and only Kemi Badenoch and Mel Stride were still to be found howling to each other in a cupboard at some imagined wrongdoing.

So it was that yesterday Lammy appeared in the Commons to make a statement on curtailing the right to trial by jury. This was a once in a generation reform, he said.