On its face, David Burt’s Cabinet shuffle last week was all about making government more effective and burnishing the Premier’s legacy.

Mr Burt removed Crystal Caesar as Minister of Education, Michael Weeks as Minister of National Security and Wayne Furbert as Junior Minister of Finance.

He then replaced Ms Caesar with her predecessor, Diallo Rabain, and brought in a political newcomer, Ryan Robinson Perinchief, as a senator and Minister of National Security. The Reverend Emily Gail Dill came off the back benches to be Cabinet Office minister. Mr Furbert was not replaced.

In his remarks after the appointees were sworn in at Government House, Mr Burt made direct reference to two reasons for the changes. He said Mr Rabain would see through a law establishing an education authority and Mr Robinson Perinchief would see through cannabis legislation promised in the Throne Speech.

There was no need for an inference in the case of the education authority because Ms Caesar had said one of the reasons for her resignation was that the legislation was flawed, but Mr Burt was apparently determined to push it through.

Mr Weeks has remained silent, at least for now, about his removal. But it would appear that Mr Burt was unhappy with the lack of progress on cannabis legislation. The Progressive Labour Party had promised laws striking a balance for “safe, responsible adult cannabis use” under limitations on the drug imposed by Britain in its 2025 manifesto.

Mr Burt has now promised that this legislation, which interestingly was not included in the last Throne Speech, will now go before the legislature before the end of this year’s session.

When the PLP returned to power in 2017, it had two flagship domestic reform initiatives — health and education. Cannabis legalisation was also promised.

Health reform remains a work-in-progress, and may be so for ever, given its complexity.

Education reform is not complete. Under Mr Rabain, plans to abolish middle schools and introduce senior “signature schools”, an already ambitious plan, metastasised into an even more sweeping series of changes that were still in the making seven years on when Mr Rabain was succeeded by Ms Caesar.

Ms Caesar paused the process, concerned both about its scale and its ballooning cost. This was the right decision but was poorly managed.

Now Mr Rabain is back, and it appears Mr Burt is determined to at least salvage the education authority from the wreckage before he leaves office.

He seems to be similarly determined to see through some form of cannabis legislation, even if the more ambitious programme has been stopped by the British Government.

While there will be disagreements about the merits of both these initiatives, there is a logic to Mr Burt’s desire to have something to show for his time in office, beyond his much praised handling of the coronavirus pandemic and the passage of the corporate income tax legislation. Both these events, while well managed, were to some degree forced on him. Education reform and cannabis legalisation would have been driven from within Bermuda.

However, it is also possible that there is more to the moves than Mr Burt securing his legacy and there is plenty of speculation around this. There is also the question of why Mr Furbert was dropped from his role; there does not appear to be any pressing financial goals that are not getting done. In any event, Mr Burt would be as culpable as Mr Furbert if there were.

Mr Burt has maintained official neutrality in the race to succeed him. But there seems little doubt that Jason Hayward is the PLP establishment pick while Curtis Dickinson is the outsider.

Both Mr Weeks and Mr Furbert attended Mr Dickinson’s recent public meeting, which at the very least suggested that they had not decided whom to support. It is not clear whom Ms Caesar supports, but it is also clear, based on her resignation announcement, that she is very unhappy with Mr Burt.

If Mr Burt was attempting to punish supporters of Mr Dickinson — and he has denied suggestions he was putting his thumb on the scale — it was a strange way to do it. While it may make clear that support or even remaining neutral is bad for your political career, it is also heavy-handed and certain to push people like Mr Weeks and Mr Furbert into Mr Dickinson’s camp. It will not play well in the PLP grass roots either, which supports fair play.

So if this was an attempt to help Mr Hayward, it may backfire.

It is also possible that Mr Burt was attempting to assist whoever succeeds him by moving out in advance ministers whom he considered to be inadequate. But this makes little sense, either. Even if Mr Hayward is running as a continuity candidate, he will shuffle the Cabinet to suit his priorities. He will not hesitate to make changes, and Mr Dickinson has even less reason to maintain the status quo.

So it seems likely that Mr Burt is indeed trying to set his legacy. The appointment of Mr Robinson Perinchief supports that idea.

Mr Robinson Perinchief’s meteoric rise to one of the most important posts in the Cabinet will have ruffled the feathers of many Cabinet ministers, not to mention backbench MPs who have put in the hours in the House of Assembly and on the doorstep. Their reward is to see a political neophyte elevated ahead of them.

For Mr Burt, that suggests that he is unfazed by the need to keep his MPs happy at this late stage.

This is not to say that Mr Robinson Perinchief is a nobody. A Rhodes scholar and lawyer, he has developed a profile as an advocate for young people and has shown a keen interest in policy. But that does not mean others will view this appointment without a jaundiced eye.

As a young person, Mr Robinson Perinchief may well bring a fresh eye to the problems of gangs and violence in the community, and could bring new insights into how to encourage alienated young people from crime.

But Mr Weeks has done well at developing a strong relationship between the Government, the Governor and the police aimed at reducing crime and ensuring the police have the resources to do their jobs.

Changing horses at this stage seems a strange decision. It is a certainty that the public are much more concerned about crime reduction than they are about cannabis legalisation. Mr Weeks, at least, has a reason to be aggrieved.

Ms Caesar clearly feels she identified problems in education reform — and had the courage to say so — and received no support.

Mr Furbert will feel most nonplussed. He appears to have done nothing wrong at all. Even if it is not the case, that will add ammunition to those who suspect Mr Burt of interfering in the leadership race. And this may backfire if enough PLP delegates feel they are being taken for granted.