By AFP
Former defence minister Phumtham Wechayachai is seen as a loyal lieutenant to suspended PM Paetongtarn Shinawatra and her father Thaksin. (EPA Images pic)BANGKOK: Thailand鈥檚 king is scheduled Thursday to swear in a new cabinet in a reshuffle that will see a third person in a week take on the role as the country鈥檚 prime minister.The Southeast Asian nation鈥檚 top office was plunged into turmoil on Tuesday when the Constitutional Court suspended Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra pending an ethics probe which could take months.Power passed to transport minister and deputy prime minister Suriya Jungrungreangkit who took office for only one full day, as the bombshell was dropped in an awkward interim ahead of the reshuffle.When former defence minister Phumtham Wechayachai is sworn into his new position as interior minister he will also take on a deputy prime minister role outranking Suriya鈥檚 鈥 thus becoming the acting premier.Before Paetongtarn was ousted she assigned herself the role of culture minister in the new cabinet, meaning she is set to keep a perch in the upper echelons of power.The revolving door of leadership comes as the kingdom is battling to revive a spluttering economy and secure a US trade deal averting Donald Trump鈥檚 looming threat of a 36% tariff.Phumtham is considered a loyal lieutenant to the suspended Paetongtarn and her father Thaksin Shinawatra, the powerful patriarch of a dynasty which has dominated Thai 21st-century politics.Thaksin-linked parties have been jousting with the pro-military, pro-conservative establishment since the early 2000s, but analysts say the family鈥檚 political brand has now entered decline.The 71-year-old Phumtham earned the nickname 鈥淏ig Comrade鈥 for his association to a left-wing youth movement of the 1970s, but transitioned to politics through a role in Thaksin鈥檚 telecoms empire.In previous cabinets he held the defence and commerce portfolios, and spent a spell as acting prime minister after a crisis engulfed the top office last year.Paetongtarn has been hobbled over a longstanding territorial dispute between Thailand and Cambodia, which boiled over into cross-border clashes in May, killing one Cambodian soldier.When she made a diplomatic call to Cambodian ex-leader Hun Sen, she called him 鈥渦ncle鈥 and referred to a Thai military commander as her 鈥渙pponent鈥, according to a leaked recording causing widespread backlash.A conservative party abandoned her ruling coalition 鈥 sparking the cabinet reshuffle 鈥 accusing her of kowtowing to Cambodia and undermining the military.The Constitutional Court said there was 鈥渟ufficient cause to suspect鈥 Paetongtarn breached ministerial ethics in the diplomatic spat.