Suella Braverman returns as home secretary
Downing Street has announced Suella Braverman’s reappointment as home secretary, less than a week after she was forced to resign from the role.
Braverman, a leading rightwinger, was sacked by Liz Truss last Wednesday because she sent an official document from her personal email to a fellow MP, in a serious breach of ministerial rules.
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Michael Gove back in cabinet as levelling up secretary
Michael Gove returns to his former role as levelling up secretary after he was dramatically sacked by Boris Johnson in July.
The shadow home secretary, Yvette Cooper, has spoken out about the controversial appointment of Suella Braverman in the Home Office.
Sunak has “put party before country” by making Braverman home secretary just days after she was forced to resign for beaching the ministerial code, Cooper said.
At noon Rishi Sunak promised “integrity, professionalism & accountability”
At 5pm he made Suella Braverman Home Secretary, 1wk after she resigned for Ministerial Code breach/security lapse
He put party before country. Security is too important for this irresponsible Tory chaos https://t.co/AU9OmMnn9T
— Yvette Cooper (@YvetteCooperMP) October 25, 2022
Steve Barclay appointed health secretary
Downing Street has announced the appointment of Steve Barclay as secretary of state for health and social care.
Barclay served as health secretary from July until September, during which he was confronted by a woman who said the government had done “bugger all” to fix record-high ambulance wait times.
Thérèse Coffey appointed environment secretary
Thérèse Coffey, who was deputy prime minister until today, has now been appointed secretary of state for environment, food and rural affairs.
The appointment of Gillian Keegan as education secretary is a real signal about Rishi Sunak’s priorities for her department, the Guardian’s Jessica Elgot writes.
Gillian Keegan is education secretary – the apprenticeships champion who started her career at 16 in a car factory. A real signal about Sunak’s priorities for the department, her passions are skills and new educational routes into the workplace.
— Jessica Elgot (@jessicaelgot) October 25, 2022
The defence secretary Ben Wallace says he is grateful to the new prime minister for his reappointment.
It is a privilege to have the opportunity to lead Defence again. I am very grateful to the new Prime Minister for appointing me, and I look forward to working with @RishiSunak to deliver a safe and prosperous United Kingdom. @DefenceHQ
— Rt. Hon Ben Wallace MP (@BWallaceMP) October 25, 2022
Mel Stride appointed work and pensions secretary
Gillian Keegan appointed education secretary – the fifth since July
Downing Street has announced the appointment of Gillian Keegan as secretary of state for education. It’s a big promotion for Keegan, who only became an MP in 2017.
Keegan becomes the fifth education secretary in the space of just four months.
The appointment of Suella Braverman as home secretary, just six days after she was forced to resign for beaching the ministerial code, has raised eyebrows.
Braverman was sacked by Liz Truss on Wednesday because she sent an official document from her personal email to a fellow MP, in a serious breach of ministerial rules.
Sky’s Beth Rigby describes Downing Street’s announcement as controversial and surprising.
This is obviously going to be controversial & I’m surprised by it.Only six days ago Braverman resigned as Home Sec after beaching the ministerial code in a security breach involving sending official documents on via her personal email. And now she’s back… https://t.co/VWGNJT5lwC
— Beth Rigby (@BethRigby) October 25, 2022
Robert Peston from ITV points out that Rishi Sunak just hours ago pledged to lead a government with “integrity, professionalism and accountability at every level”.
Six days ago, Braverman – on the advice of the cabinet secretary Simon Case – resigned for a security misdemeanour that breached the ministerial code of conduct. Sunak started his term this morning by pledging “integrity… at every level”. A six day punishment might not be that https://t.co/4QnxNWtJoC
— Robert Peston (@Peston) October 25, 2022
Tim Shipman from the Sunday Times points out that Braverman did not stand down last week because she leaked a meaningless document.
Suella Braverman did not mistakenly leak a meaningless document. She endlessly consulted a maverick. She deliberately emailed a policy doc not yet agreed to her pvt email. Then she sent it to John Hayes and someone she thought was his wife. Then lied to PM about when it was sent pic.twitter.com/WvjnMT7Cvw
— Tim Shipman (@ShippersUnbound) October 25, 2022
Penny Mordaunt reappointed Commons leader
Downing Street has announced the reappointment of Penny Mordaunt as lord president of the council and leader of the House of Commons.
As the Guardian’s Jessica Elgot writes, the announcement is a snub for Mordaunt who may have hoped for a promotion after running in the leadership race.
WOW – first major snub of the reshuffle, no promotion for Penny Mordaunt. She stays as Leader of the Commons.
— Jessica Elgot (@jessicaelgot) October 25, 2022
Alister Jack and David Davies have both entered Downing Street in the past few minutes.
James Cleverly says he is honoured to be reappointed as the foreign secretary, adding that he will continue to “protect UK interests overseas and support to our friends and allies around the world”.
I’m honoured to be reappointed as Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs.
Continuing to protect UK interests overseas and support to our friends and allies around the world, defending democracy and freedom especially standing with 🇺🇦 https://t.co/cqI1Xp9z3M
— James Cleverly🇬🇧 (@JamesCleverly) October 25, 2022
Cleverly earlier said he had spoken with Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, and reiterated Britain’s support for Kyiv in the face of Russian aggression.
Kuleba has also now tweeted about the call with his British counterpart:
I had a call with my UK counterpart @JamesCleverly who has just been re-appointed to the new government of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. Governments may change, but the support of our UK friends will remain unwavering for as long as it is needed for Ukraine to win 🇺🇦🇬🇧 pic.twitter.com/x5g7ME4rqX
— Dmytro Kuleba (@DmytroKuleba) October 25, 2022
Andrew Sparrow
Chris Heaton-Harris, the Northern Ireland secretary, has gone into No 10. And while the reshuffle has been going on Steve Baker, a Northern Ireland minister, has posted a blunt message on Twitter aimed at the DUP. He frames it as a message from civil society leaders to all politicians in Northern Ireland, and he says they should reform the power-sharing executive, so that it can start distributing funding.
But it is not only the DUP that is blocking the re-establishment of the executive, and so the tweet is implicitly very critical of the party. Tory ministers from the UK government have not normally been willing to address the party like this in public in the past.
I am finishing for the day, but Léonie Chao-Fong is still here and will carry on with the reshuffle coverage.
Read More:Rishi Sunak reshuffle: Braverman named home secretary, Gove returns as levelling up secretary, Mordaunt not promoted –
2022-10-25 17:02:57
