David Cameron's election as Conservative Party leader put many middle-ranking Tory MPs - not least Stephen O'Brien, the Shadow Higher Education Minister - into a few days of limbo while awaiting the inevitable reshuffle. As The Times Higher went to press, Mr O'Brien was waiting to hear if he would keep his job or face a return to the back benches for having backed Liam Fox rather than Mr Cameron, his old boss in the shadow education team, for the leadership. But Mr O'Brien shares Mr Cameron's support of "co-payment" and of scrapping the party's anti-tuition fees policy. Will this be enough to see him keep his place?