What did he mean by that?
The fact that Mr Smudge has swopped jobs with Mr Mudge may matter very little to people outside the Westminster village, but reshuffles do tell us a great deal about how a party leader sees his strengths, his weaknesses and the balance of opinion within his party.
The return of Ken Clarke reveals that David Cameron regards his inexperience as his Achilles heel. The promotion of not just Clarke but of plain-speaking northerner Eric Pickes and tough-talking Chris Grayling, alongside the unveiling of William Hague as deputy leader in all but name, suggests that the Tory leader also sees the danger of being presented as "Lord Snooty", the prefect of the Bullingdon boys.
On Europe, he has sought to reassure his party by promoting arch-sceptic Mark Francois to the Shadow Cabinet, as if Messrs Hague, Osborne, Letwin and many others weren't enough.
So beyond the presentation has anything really changed?
The answer is yes. Having invited Ken Clarke into Team Cameron, they will have no choice but to listen to him.
A stray word here, a planned intervention there, or even his resignation would be devastating for the Conservatives.
Ken Clarke has been around politics long enough, and cares enough about the future of the country, to use any one of those weapons if he felt he had to.
The price that needs to be paid to get the economy moving again or the bill for the age of irresponsibility? You pays your money - and, boy, do you pay your money - and you makes your choice.
Those are the competing soundbites to describe the latest government bank rescue plan. In truth, the choice available is rather less stark since the Tories broadly back this plan. Their row with the government focuses on the need for and affordability of the fiscal stimulus - taxes and spending in other words - and how on earth we got in this mess in the first place.
What is clear, though, is that the prize in politics will go to those who can describe a future for the British economy which does not depend on ever-expanding banks lending ever larger sums to Russian oligarchs. Peter Mandelson made that point in rather more diplomatic language in a speech at the weekend.
That makes Ken Clarke's appointment so fascinating. He's by instinct hostile to London, keener on manufacturing than banking and loves a scrap. Labour will hope to present a 68-year-old who doesn't own a mobile and wears Hush Puppies as more in touch with the past than the future.
Then there is the small matter of Europe. Is greater integration a vital part of its future or irrelevant to it?
Politics will soon focus on who can get us through this hostile environment. Talking of which, I am rather inconveniently spending the week away training to deal with just that in war zones around the world - so normal service may be interrupted a little.
