Mr Tony Blair's authority was felt still more powerfully throughout Whitehall last night after a cabinet reshuffle which saw four ministerial sackings, and the promotion of key loyalists to the heart of his government.
Mr Peter Mandelson and Dr Jack Cunningham claimed the big prizes in a more extensive reshaping of the cabinet than had been expected. Ms Harriet Harman was the biggest loser, sacked from her post as Social Security Secretary, closely followed by her former deputy, Mr Frank Field, who resigned after Mr Blair made plain he would not be taking her job.
Ms Harman never fully recovered from the backbench Labour rebellion over plans to cut benefits for single parents, and Mr Field plainly failed to deliver on his promise for radical welfare reform. With the government under fire over a rising welfare Bill, that hot potato now passes to the high-flying Mr Alistair Darling, promoted from his post as Chief Secretary to the Treasury. His job in turn goes to another rising star in the Blairite firmament, Mr Stephen Byers.
In a surprise move, Mr Blair sacked Lord Richard as leader of the House of Lords, replacing him with Baroness Jay. And Mr Gavin Strang, to no one's great surprise, lost his job as Transport Secretary. Dr John Reid, previously Armed Forces Minister, takes over at Transport, with the right to attend cabinet meetings though not formally a cabinet member.
Following a precedent set by Mr John Major, the prime minister informed the losers in advance, sparing them the long trek before the assembled press corps to learn their fate. Mr Blair tried to cushion the blow for Ms Harman, suggesting she take time out from front-line politics and holding out the possibility of her return. She in turn played the loyal loser, proud to have played a part in modernising the Labour Party, and declaring her full support for the government.
Mr Mandelson - close confidant of Mr Blair and leading moderniser, loathed by Old Labour and much of the rest of the party besides for his supposed mastery of the black political arts - finally won his opportunity to prove himself a minister in his own right.
He enters the cabinet for the first time, replacing Mrs Margaret Beckett at the Department of Trade and Industry. Mr Mandelson quickly let it be known that, unlike his predecessors, he would not be known as Trade and Industry "President".
The job originally designed for Mr Mandelson - that of prime ministerial "enforcer", in charge of the co-ordination and presentation of government policy across Whitehall - went to Dr Cunningham, a survivor from the last Labour government of Mr James Callaghan, and tipped just days ago for a return to the backbenches.
Often described as lazy and arrogant, Dr Cunningham was thought by Westminster watchers to have sealed his fate with the decision to ban Britons eating beef on the bone. But Mr Blair has been impressed by Dr Cunningham's grasp of detailed European negotiations, and clearly regards him as the necessary "safe pair of hands" at the heart of an administration dangerously preoccupied with personality rifts.
It was an open secret in Whitehall that Chancellor Gordon Brown had vigorously opposed Mr Mandelson's mooted appointment as Minister for the Cabinet Office. But his relief that this did not come to pass will have been tempered by Mr Mandelson's appointment to an economic ministry, and by the displacement of a key ally, Mr Nick Brown, as chief whip by Mrs Ann Taylor, the former Leader of the House. Her job goes to Mrs Beckett, while Mr Brown replaces Dr Cunningham at Agriculture.
As a plainly delighted Dr Cunningham led the traditional beauty parade into Number 10 yesterday morning, Downing Street sources hailed his appointment, describing him as "a grownup politician". The sub-text to yesterday's appointments was clearly a message to Mr Brown and Mr Mandelson to put their personal differences aside, and they duly appeared together with other colleagues last night for the benefit of the cameras.