The Conservatives have ditched their tenth housing minister in less than 10 years as Esther McVey has been sacked from her post in a cabinet reshuffle today.

McVey took to Twitter to express her regret at leaving the role, which she has occupied for only six months.

She tweeted: “I’m very sorry to be relieved of my duties as Housing Minister.

“I wish my successor the very best & every success 

“I’m very grateful to the Prime Minister for having given me the opportunity to serve in his government & he will continue to have my support from the back benches.”

Retirement property firm Audley Group’s chief executive Nick Sanderson says that with ten changes of minister in the past 10 years and 19 in the past 20 it is hardly surprising that short-termism remains the order of the day. 

He says: “A lack of understanding of the real issues continues to lead to sticking plaster policies like building more houses. 

“If a change does need to be made, it should be meaningful: bringing together housing, health and social care under one banner would be a genuinely radical shift towards solving issues at their root.”

Just Mortgages national operations director John Phillips comments: “Housing policy requires a clear sense of direction, and that has been sadly lacking in recent years as the ministerial revolving door has spun at a furious pace.

“Now that there is a government with a stable majority, I hope the new housing minister stays in place long enough to take on some of the long-term issues that have held the housing market back.”

Benham and Reeves estate agency director Marc von Grundherr says the revolving door of the housing minister’s post “recycles the same stale rhetoric which paints a lovely picture of fixing the housing market, yet fails to make it beyond the canvass”.

Stone Real Estate founder and chief executive Michael Stone says the position is becoming a “poisoned chalice, with those taking on the role doomed to fail from the very get-go”.

He adds: “Until we elevate the role to the position of power that it requires, we will continue to see each candidate fall on their own sword having failed to address the deep-rooted issues embedded within the UK housing crisis in the short time they are allowed to do so.”