There was no surprise on Tuesday when Premier Dr. Ewart Brown appointed Walter Roban to the Cabinet, except perhaps that he did not give him a substantive portfolio.

Although Dame Jennifer Smith got most of the credit for bailing Dr. Brown out when he avoided a no confidence motion in the Progressive Labour Party caucus last month, Mr. Roban made substantially the same argument as she did; that any leadership change should be made at the PLP delegates conference and not by the caucus.

On Friday during the no confidence motion, Mr. Roban was also among the most loyal of MPs to Dr. Brown, defending the Government's performance and the Uighur decision making. So a Cabinet post can be seen as a reward for Mr. Roban, and as a striving young MP, it is no surprise that he would accept it.

Neletha Butterfield's decision to accept Dale Butler's old job as Minister of Social Rehabilitation and Culture has raised some eyebrows, however.

It's not particularly a surprise that Dr. Brown would offer the job to her, as he tries to bring the party back together. And the Social Rehabilitation part of the portfolio is undoubtedly right up Ms Butterfield's alley, as she has effectively dedicated her life to this effort.

So Dr. Brown was clever to offer her this job; it may well be that this was quite literally the job she could not refuse. And cynics will note that the Cabinet salary of $150,000 per year is a strong temptation for anyone.

That does not mean that she should have accepted the job, however.

Ms Butterfield was unceremoniously turfed out of the Cabinet after the December 2007 election when Dr. Brown replaced her as Environment and Technology Minister.

Although Ms Butterfield generally got praised for her handling of that portfolio, she also took the brunt of the criticism from environmentalists for issuing a flurry of Cabinet-approved special development orders. For that sacrifice, her reward was to be dropped.

To her credit, apart from criticising Dr. Brown's preference for men over women in the Cabinet, Ms Butterfield was gracious and refused to criticise Dr. Brown. But there is no doubt that it hurt.

And on Friday, Ms Butterfield gave an emotional speech in which she was critical of the Premier and said she had had difficulty explaining the decision – a difficult pill to swallow – to her constituents.

However, she was also one of the most adamant in saying that the Premier needed to "turn regrets into an apology".

Dr. Brown eventually did issue a half-apology and one can only assume that it was good enough for Ms Butterfield.

The idea that Ms Butterfield believes she can do more good from within, which is essentially what Finance Minister Paula Cox believes, should not be discounted either.

But that presumes that Dr. Brown's general approach to leadership and decision making can be changed, and that really is a difficult pill to swallow.