In from the cold … Salmond's critics join the team

ALEX Salmond promoted three of his former political opponents to influential positions within the Scottish Government yesterday, in his first ministerial reshuffle since taking office almost two years ago.

The First Minister strengthened his team by axeing the three poorest performers in the Scottish Government and bringing in two heavyweight politicians – and former critics of his leadership – who had been languishing on the back-benches.

Mr Salmond also created a new role for another former leadership rival, Mike Russell, the former environment minister, who was moved to take over the culture brief and also given special responsibility for piloting the SNP's flagship legislation on an independence referendum through the parliament next year.

Mr Salmond's first government reshuffle was more limited than some MSPs had expected, particularly as the five-member Cabinet team has been left intact.

However, he showed his determination to get rid of those junior ministers he believes have under-performed in the past two years.

Out went Maureen Watt, the minister for schools and skills, who has been seen as probably the least effective and least confident minister in the Scottish Government.

She attracted negative publicity after suggesting that time spent by children walking to school could count towards PE targets.

Ms Watt will be joined on the back-benches by Stewart Maxwell, the former communities minister, who struggled with the merger of SportScotland and the Scottish Institute of Sport, and by Linda Fabiani, who, as culture minister, was responsible for perhaps the biggest legislative mix-up of the SNP's time in office, the failure to get the Creative Scotland bill through the parliament.

In their place, Mr Salmond showed he was no longer afraid to work alongside former critics. He promoted the two MSPs who stood against him for the party leadership in 2004 – Roseanna Cunningham and Mr Russell – and there was also a step up for Alex Neil, who stood against Mr Salmond's favoured candidate, John Swinney, for the leadership when Mr Salmond stood down in 2000.

The one newcomer to front-line SNP politics is Keith Brown, who was elected as an MSP only in 2007. He takes over from Ms Watt as a junior education minister. Mr Brown was convener of Holyrood's standards committee last year when it ruled that the then Labour leader, Wendy Alexander, had broken parliamentary rules by failing promptly to register leadership campaign donations.

The SNP had been in office for 21 months with the same ministerial team, the longest any administration has lasted without a reshuffle since the advent of devolution ten years ago.

The First Minister said he believed it was time to reward back-bench talent and give other MSPs the chance to shine in government. "The Scottish Government is strong and popular, and now is the right time to bring in fresh talent and experience," he said.

It is understood, however, that Mr Salmond had decided several weeks ago which ministers he was going to axe but was forced to delay the reshuffle because of problems over the Budget – it was finally passed last week.

The First Minister insisted the three ministers who had been fired were not being axed because they had failed in their jobs.

"There have been no failures in the ministerial team, but I have asked them to make way to give colleagues an opportunity to show what they can contribute," he said.

The changes will give Mr Salmond a more talented and experienced team in government, but they also mean the First Minister no longer has a team of ultra-loyalists in government. Indeed, it is now nearer to a "ministry of all the talents" than it has ever been.

The Scottish Liberal Democrats, however, mocked the reshuffle as "the day of the blunt dirks". Mike Rumbles, the Lib Dems' chief whip, said: "I'm delighted that Alex Neil's ultra loyalty has finally been rewarded. We look forward to him toeing the ministerial line, day in, day out.

"The lesson of this reshuffle is that slavish adoration of the First Minister pays dividends."

Cathy Jamieson, Scottish Labour's health spokeswoman, said: "Stewart Maxwell has paid the price for the SNP's failure on housing, but it is not enough to change the personnel if the policies stay the same.

"The number of new homes being built in our two biggest cities is falling off the edge of a cliff."

Murdo Fraser, the Tories' deputy leader, said it was "astonishing" senior ministers had kept their jobs, citing the row over justice secretary Kenny MacAskill missing a knife-crime summit in Edinburgh and the Elgin bypass controversy surrounding rural affairs secretary Richard Lochhead.

He added: "Rather than knifing a few junior ministers, Alex Salmond should have taken the axe to his Cabinet."