Tony Blair Shuffles British Cabinet

Follows Poor Showing In Elections; Foreign, Home Secretaries Out

(CBS/AP)  Prime Minister Tony Blair fired his law and order chief Friday and chose a new foreign secretary in a wide-ranging Cabinet shuffle a day after his party took a pounding in local elections.

The Labour Party pulled 26 percent of the vote to the Conservatives 40 percent, a result that renewed calls from some quarters for the prime minister to step down.

Foreign Secretary Jack Straw is out. So is Charles Clarke, the immigration chief who came under fire for failing to deport foreign rapists and murderers, reports CBS News correspondent Vicki Barker (link).

"I felt that it was very difficult, given the level of genuine public concern, for Charles to continue" as home secretary, said Blair, who days earlier had defended Clarke as the right man to deal with the prisoner issue.

Defense Secretary John Reid was moved to the Home Office, and Des Browne was promoted from chief secretary at the Treasury to secretary of defense.

Blair removed Jack Straw as foreign secretary, replacing him with Margaret Beckett, who had headed the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. She becomes the first woman to hold the job.

Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott, who admitted an affair with a secretary, will keep his title but was stripped of the responsibilities of his department, which include housing and planning.

The shake-up appeared aimed at demonstrating Blair still holds a firm grip on his beleaguered government after weeks of negative headlines and scandal.

Liberal Democrat leader Sir Menzies Campbell said the real problem is voter disenchantment with Blair himself.

"In the early days, Tony Blair walked on water. He looks a bit waterlogged at the moment," said Campbell.

"It'll take far more than a reshuffle," Conservative Party leader David Cameron said. "What we need in this country is a replacement of the government."

"I think what we have seen over the last few hours is that while the Labour Party is collapsing, the Conservative Party is building," Cameron said as he toured London to celebrate his party's gains in the local elections.