The New Leader of the Green party Natalie Bennett responded to the Coalition government's reshuffle by saying: "There's much excitement in the media now about the reshuffle, but the fact is that nothing significant is changing. George Osborne, the man who is clinging to the utterly discredited 'Plan A' of ideologically driven spending cuts, which are damaging the British economy and causing suffering and disruption in communities across the UK, is still in place. (That's despite the fact that even the IMF is saying this is the wrong direction.)
"There's no sign of a government U-turn towards the investment that we urgently need to create jobs and provide the homes, public transport and sustainable energy infrastructure necessary to meet community needs and build a Britain fit for the low-carbon future.
"And with Iain Duncan Smith remaining as Work and Pensions Secretary, there's no sign of any response to the strong, angry protests against the inhumanity of the benefit cuts, which threaten to make huge numbers homeless, drive families far from the support of friends, relatives and familiar schools, and which are causing great fear and distress among people with disabilities."
Labour’s Shadow Cabinet Office Minister, Michael Dugher responding to the Government’s reshuffle, said: "This is the no-change reshuffle. No move for a failing Chancellor in charge of a failing economic plan that has delivered a double-dip recession, who gave a tax cut for millionaires and who refuses to tax bank bonuses. And there are no moves across almost all of the most senior cabinet jobs.
"On Sunday David Cameron promised to 'cut through the dither', but today he was too weak to move Iain Duncan Smith from the Department of Work and Pensions and was forced to back down. Jeremy Hunt, the man who broke the ministerial code and failed to stand up to News Corporation, is now in charge of the NHS, our most cherished national institution. This won't change David Cameron's policy of continuing with a massive top-down NHS reorganisation. "This reshuffle isn't a fresh start - it's more of the same from an out of touch and failing Government that stands up for the wrong people."
This morning however David Cameron has denied reducing ministers to tears as he took the reshuffle hatchet to his Government. The Prime Minister also revealed that he juggled the complicated business of reshaping the coalition with trying to write a poem about a "furry bear" for one of his children The comments came amid reports that three Tories - including former Cabinet members Caroline Spelman and Cheryl Gillan - wept when told they no longer had frontbench jobs. Asked whether he had made anyone cry, Mr Cameron replied: "That is not true, actually."
Mr Cameron told ITV's Daybreak programme that conducting the shake-up earlier this week was "difficult", and some of the ousted ministers had done "absolutely nothing wrong". "It obviously is incredibly difficult because there are ministers who had worked incredibly hard, who had done absolutely nothing wrong in their jobs, who were very dedicated. But when you have got a huge team of 300 MPs, huge challenges, it is important to bring new people on and bring new people in."
Mr Cameron said his household had been "chaotic" as elder children Nancy and Elwen returned to school after the summer holiday. "It was pretty chaotic because it had been lovely having the children with us on holiday, and then suddenly they go back," he said. "The homework is coming thick and fast. I was trying to do a poem on a furry bear while also contemplating all the other things that were going on. It has been quite complicated. But I hope it hasn't got in the way of the conduct of government."
Mr Cameron also rejected criticism that he had not promoted enough women to the top ranks in his reshuffle. "There are as many today as there were before the reshuffle," he said. "Two very talented women left the Cabinet, and two very talented women joined the Cabinet," he said. "But what you see - obviously I inherited a party with only 19 women MPs - there are now around 50. So, big change has taken place. Some very talented women in the junior ministerial ranks - I hope you'll have some of them on the sofa. People like Helen Grant, Anna Soubry - stars of the future. They are joining the Government and I hope they'll be working their way up and through it, and you'll see many more women at the top of Conservative politics in the future."
