MP accused of attempted coup against Blair goes to whips' office

The MP accused of orchestrating an attempted coup against Tony Blair was recalled to the Government as Gordon Brown completed his ministerial reshuffle yesterday.

The Prime Minister appointed his ally Tom Watson to the government whips' office. Mr Watson resigned as a junior defence minister in September after he signed a round-robin letter by Labour MPs urging Mr Blair to stand down, a move which forced him to announce that he would leave Downing Street this year.

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It emerged that Mr Watson visited Mr Brown at his Scottish home at the time of the coup attempt. Two other anti-Blair rebels who signed the letter, Mark Tami and Wayne David, were also appointed to the whips' office. Mr Brown balanced the appointments by also recruiting the ultra-Blairite Siobhain McDonagh to the whips' office. She is the only member of his government who did not nominate him for the Labour leadership.

Shahid Malik, the MP for Dewsbury, becomes the first Muslim member of the Government. He joins the Department for International Development. Other new faces in the team include Kitty Ussher, who succeeds Ed Balls as the Treasury minister responsible for the City, and Meg Hillier, who joins the Home Office. Dawn Primarolo leaves the Treasury, after 10 years, for the Department for Health, where she will be joined by the environment minister Ben Bradshaw. Caroline Flint leaves Health to become minister for Work, succeeding Jim Murphy, who is made minister for Europe.

The new minister for Pensions is Mike O'Brien, the former solicitor general. Pat McFadden, a former Blair aide, moves from the Cabinet Office to become number two at the Department of Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform, while Phil Woolas moves from local government to take responsibility for climate change. The new minister for Sport is Gerry Sutcliffe.

Jon Cruddas, the dark horse in Labour's deputy leadership contest, turned down a job offered to him by the Prime Minister. Friends of Mr Cruddas said Mr Brown had been "too nebulous" with the offer to become one of the new "ministers for the regions" and a Labour vice-chairman.

Sir Richard Branson, the Virgin tycoon, agreed to join Mr Brown's Business Council for Britain. Its members, announced last night, include the Tesco chief executive, Sir Terry Leahy, the former British Airways boss Sir Rod Eddington and Glaxo SmithKline's Dr Jean-Pierre Garnier. The council, which will meet two or three times a year, will be chaired by Mervyn Davies of the Standard Chartered Bank and will be attended by the Prime Minister and cabinet ministers from the main economic departments.