The BBC's Robin Oakley: "Today's events didn't involve any tears"

But Tony Blair's decision to make just one change at Cabinet level has criticised by the opposition. It says he missed a clear opportunity to improve his team's performance and remove dead wood.

The reshuffle follows weeks of speculation about the future of many of the government's senior figures.

Ultimately, the only Cabinet shift was the appointment of a new Welsh secretary in place of Alun Michael, who has become first secretary in the National Assembly for Wales.

He is replaced by the Minister for Political Development at the Northern Ireland Office, Paul Murphy - with Mo Mowlam remaining Northern Ireland Secretary.

(Click here for an interactive guide to the new Cabinet.)

The prime minister has instead focused on bringing new faces into the middle and junior ranks of his government.

More than a dozen backbenchers have been brought into the government for the first time, while 14 ministers have left. There have been 11 promotions and 13 sideways moves.

But Conservative leader William Hague described events as a "non-shuffle" and suggested the prime minister lacked authority over his ministers.

"It looks as if he's locked in his Cabinet and John Prescott has thrown away the key. Superman has defeated Supermouse," he said.

Former Tory Prime Minister John Major agreed more radical change at the top should have been forced through.

He told the BBC: "The Cabinet ministers we are talking about now have been in government for over two years and some of them are patently out of their depths."

Major reorganisation - Cunningham

But Cabinet Office Minister Jack Cunningham - himself one of those widely tipped for the sack - defended the reshuffle, and pointed out that about a third of the Cabinet had changed over the course of the past year.

Jack Cunningham: "The prime minister is not going to be driven into making ministerial changes by media hysteria"

He said: "The reality is there is going to be a very substantial change at the minister of state and under secretary of state level."

This amounted to "a major reorganisation of the government, in what many people describe as the engine room of the government".

He added: "The prime minister is not the kind of person who is either manipulated by the media or scared off by people, when he's made his mind up to do something, he does it."

Paul Murphy: Only new face in the Cabinet

Northern Ireland Secretary Mo Mowlam and Health Secretary Frank Dobson were among those who broke convention and publicly stated that they wanted to remain in their positions.

Northern Ireland's unionists have been angered by Mr Blair's decision not to move Dr Mowlam from her present position.

Ulster Unionist Jeffrey Donaldson said: "There will be some disappointment this morning that the prime minister hasn't taken the opportunity to bring in a new face at a very critical stage in the process."

Jackson and Banks quit government

The biggest surprise of the reshuffle was the decision of two of the government's best-known figures to resign.

Glenda Jackson: "I'm in no position to know if I was going to be pushed or not"

Double-Oscar winning actress Glenda Jackson resigned as a junior transport minister to join the contest to become the first directly-elected mayor of London.

Sports Minister Tony Banks is to become a special envoy for England's bid to host the 2006 World Cup. There is speculation he will also stand for mayor.

Junior Home Office Minister Kate Hoey fulfils her ambition to become the first woman sports minister, replacing Mr Banks.

The reshuffle has also seen the first black woman minister enter the government as Baroness Scotland takes up a post in the Foreign Office.

Among the other senior figures leaving the government is the former chairman of BP, Lord Simon of Highbury.

The competitiveness minister is understood to have become disenchanted with the government's position on the euro.

His position at the Department of Trade and Industry is taken by Transport Minister Helen Liddell.

She is replaced by the Scotland Office Minister Lord Macdonald - the fourth transport minister since Labour came to office.