The last Labour Cabinet minister to oversee local government reorganisation was John Denham in 2009/10 when it became bogged down in judicial reviews. 

The memory has clearly not deterred the current Labour Government since it has now embarked on the most radical restructuring of two-tier areas in over half a century, much to Denham's surprise. 

Furthermore, it coincides with a downsizing of the ICBs providing an opportunity to link health and local government boundaries which may yet be missed judging by governments' silo tendencies.

Denham is also concerned the new unitaries will be saddled with huge social care costs, while coming on stream right in between the two reports from Baroness Louise Casey on social care in 2026 and 2028. 

This mismatch between one part of government and another is echoed in his views about the future of ICBs, now facing mergers. A former non-executive director of an ICB he adds: ‘I wouldn't want ICBs as twice as big as now. We need to work towards coterminosity with the new strategic authorities.'

Denham was communities secretary in 2009/10 and in an interview with HM's sister title The MJ he recalls: ‘I've never been a great reorganiser. I always worried about the institutional cost. I wouldn't have done wider reorganisation at that time and I had no plans do so. I wasn't expecting this current round. I had a view the Government would want strategic authorities in place first, then two-tier changes later. The promise of saving money seems to have made them bring it forward.'

Some of his former ministerial colleagues have cropped up as advisers to the current Labour Government. Denham says modestly: ‘I'm not completely shut out of the picture. I've been invited to discuss English devolution. Ministers and civil servants know my views.' 

Since leaving Parliament in 2015 he has worked as an academic at the University of Southampton specialising in the relationship between national identity and political choices, or how their idea of the nation influences voters, as well as his interest in the UK's government structure and devolution. 

He has not as yet cropped up as an unofficial adviser to Wes Streeting even though Denham was a junior health minister in 1998-2001 under the first Blair Government. 

In an interview with the Institute for Government (IfG) last November he recalled that ‘my job was to make sure we delivered all the waiting list promises that had been made prior to 1997 or were made in the early years after the election'.

He added we ‘discovered that 50% of our waiting list problem was in 25 hospitals, out of the 940-odd hospitals we had at the time. This had not been flushed out of the system previously. And then you suddenly realised virtually all of your problem was within about 75 hospitals so you had a totally different approach'. 

There is a strong sense of deja vu about his experience as health minister with the same problems 25 years ago as now. 

He told the IfG: ‘I think it was beginning to dawn on people how profound the problems facing the NHS were, and also, therefore, the need to do reform… And then in due course Alan Milburn [health secretary, 1999–2003] developed the NHS plan which, until I heard Wes Streeting say ‘this is the biggest ever review of the NHS', was, in fact, the biggest ever review of the NHS (and looks remarkably similar, with almost all the same people involved, so it will be very interesting to see what happens!).'

Denham is, however, an enthusiast for devolution. A former Hampshire County Council and Southampton City councillor he wanted to ‘push the devolutionary agenda as far as I could' as minister and it was during his term that the orders setting up the Greater Manchester Combined Authority were laid. 

In contrast to his views on the Government's current reorganisation plans, he believes the current devolution agenda is not radical enough, is at its first staging post and needs to go further, particularly financially, citing the way European councils are far better resourced from national taxes. 

One area he was – and is – closely identified with is Total Place, created in 2009 when he was communities secretary and piloted across 13 areas. 

Its supporters believe it was one of Labour's most ambitious and potentially far-reaching cross-cutting initiatives which could have radically changed the way public services are distributed had it not been abandoned after Labour lost the 2010 election. 

So Will there be a return to Total Place? He tells The MJ: ‘It was clear public spending then wasn't going to grow as much as the economy so you had to spread it better which was Total Place. 

‘That's what we need now. We still have overlapping services. Total Place is an idea out there and it won't go away. There won't be more money.'