Rishi Sunak’s Cabinet: Who’s in and who’s out as Prime Minister reshuffles
Rishi Sunak vowed to fix the “mistakes” of his predecessor’s administration as he entered No10 as Prime Minister.
The new Conservative leader began a comprehensive cabinet reshuffle on Tuesday afternoon, with several ministers who had been loyal to Liz Truss and Boris Johnson losing their Government jobs.
Mr Sunak braced the nation for “difficult decisions” ahead and warned the UK is facing a “profound economic crisis” in his first speech after being asked to form a Government by the King.
He criticised Ms Truss chaotic 50-day tenure, but vowed to unite his party and the country.
In words aimed at addressing the chaos and scandals of the Mr Johnson years and what followed under Ms Truss, he said: “I know he would agree that the mandate my party earned in 2019 is not the sole property of any one individual. It is a mandate that belongs to and unites all of us.”
Out
- Jacob Rees-Mogg, an old ally of Boris Johnson and Ms Truss who once branded Mr Sunak a “socialist”, was the first to concede he would not get a job in the new Cabinet and resigned
- Brandon Lewis resigned as Justice Secretary. He said it had been “an honour to have been one of the longest serving Cabinet ministers – having done eight ministerial roles, in five departments, under four Prime Ministers.”
- Kit Malthouse was dismissed from his post as Education Secretary
- Levelling Up Secretary Simon Clarke was sacked
- Environment Secretary Ranil Jayawardena was fired
- Alok Sharma remains COP26 President but will no longer attend Cabinet
- Wendy Morton was out as chief whip after a torrid few weeks that peaked with a Commons vote on fracking descending into farce the night before Ms Truss’s resignation
- Jake Berry was out as Conservative Party Chairman. He said: “All good things must come to an end. I relish the opportunity to serve our great party and my constituents from the backbenches once again.”
- Welsh Secretary Robert Buckland resigned saying: “I am leaving the Government at my request but will be supporting Rishi Sunak from the backbenches.”
- Work and Pensions Secretary Chloe Smith was sacked and said she would support his premiership from the back benches
- Development minister Vicky Ford who attended cabinet under Liz Truss was also ousted from her job at the Foreign Office
In
- Jeremy Hunt has been re-appointed Chancellor
- Dominic Raab is back as Deputy Prime Minister and Justice Secretary
- Simon Hart is the new Chief Whip
- James Cleverly has been re-appointed Foreign Secretary
- Ben Wallace remains Defence Secretary
- Nadhim Zahawi has been removed from his job as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, but will remain in the cabinet as Minister without Portfolio and Party Chairman
- Oliver Dowden in as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, running the Cabinet Office
- Suella Braverman back as Home Secretary – just six days after being forced to resign for sending sensitive official documents from her personal email
- Grant Shapps moved to become Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Secretary
- Penny Mordaunt re-appointed as Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons
- Gillian Keegan made Secretary of State for Education, the sixth person to hold the job in just 13 month
- Mel Stride, the chairman of the Treasury Select Committee, made Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
- Dr Thérèse Coffeymoved from Health to become Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
- Steve Barclay appointed Health Secretary, a job he held briefly under Boris Johnson
