Boris Johnson has appointed trusted allies to key ministerial positions in his first shake up since December’s election, rewarding loyalists and punishing those who Number 10 believe have failed to deliver.
While Rishi Sunak’s appointment as chancellor was the most consequential move in a reshuffle previously billed as low key, the prime minister has handed promotions to those who have proved they can run departments without any drama and deliver on the government’s policy agenda.
The Brexit balance of the cabinet has shifted slightly away from hardline Brexiters, with prominent Leave campaigners Andrea Leadsom and Theresa Villiers replaced by ministers who supported Remain.
And despite Number 10’s insistence the reshuffle would promote women to key positions, the overall number of women attending cabinet has decreased by one. The junior ministerial ranks are expected to be filled with primarily female appointments.
At the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, Mrs Leadsom was replaced by Alok Sharma, the former international development secretary.
Mr Sharma was also appointed as the government minister in charge of COP26 climate conference in Glasgow. One of his first challenges will be to put the international summit back on track, following the firing of Claire O’Neill and verbal spats with the Scottish government over policing costs.
In turn Mr Sharma was replaced as international development secretary by Anne-Marie Trevelyan, a junior defence minister and a longstanding backer of Mr Johnson. The MP for Berwick-upon-Tweed will be a prominent northern voice, reflecting the government’s focus on England’s regions. She has also been critical of the UK’s 0.7 per cent foreign aid spending commitment which underpins her new department.
George Eustice, previously a junior environment minister, was promoted to environment secretary after Mr Johnson sacked Theresa Villiers, who was judged to have failed to make an impact since she was appointed last summer. Mr Eustice, however, supported Michael Gove in the leadership contest and has publicly expressed scepticism about striking a post-Brexit trade deal with the US.
In an article for The Guardian last year, Mr Eustice said: “If Americans want to be granted privileged access to the UK market, they will have to learn to abide by British law and British standards, or kiss goodbye to any trade deal and join the back of the queue.”
One loyalist of Mr Johnson who did not survive the reshuffle was Geoffrey Cox, the booming Brexit-supporting attorney-general who provided legal cover for Mr Johnson’s withdrawal agreement last year. In his resignation letter, Mr Cox pointedly reminded the prime minister he introduced him when his Tory leadership bid was launched. Yet allies of Mr Johnson said the prime minister was “increasingly exasperated by his long interventions” in cabinet meetings.
Suella Braverman, a notable campaigner for Brexit, was appointed to replace Mr Cox and judicial reform is set to be one of her main policy targets. Writing on the ConservativeHome website recently, she attacked “unaccountable judges” and said parliament must “take back control” from the judiciary.
“Today, our courts exercise a form of political power. Questions that fell hitherto exclusively within the prerogative of elected Ministers have yielded to judicial activism: foreign policy, conduct of our armed forces abroad, application of international treaties and, of course, the decision to prorogue Parliament,” she wrote.
The planned departure of Baroness Morgan from the culture brief made way for Oliver Dowden, another early supporter of Mr Johnson’s leadership bid last summer who previously served as Cabinet Office minister. He is praised by Downing Street insiders for his knowledge of the civil service, which originated from his role as Number 10’s deputy chief of staff under ex-prime minister David Cameron.
Having sacked Julian Smith from the Northern Ireland Office over past Brexit disagreements, Mr Johnson promoted the former security minister Brandon Lewis to take his place, handing him his first cabinet role. Although Mr Smith was praised by representatives from all communities in Northern Ireland and there was shock at his departure, Number 10 appeared keen to install someone more loyal to the government.
Elsewhere, Mr Johnson kept other trusted allies in their roles. Priti Patel stayed on as home secretary, Dominic Raab as foreign secretary, Matt Hancock at health, Robert Buckland as justice secretary and Grant Shapps at the Department for Transport.
Some ministers who were rumoured to be sacked in the reshuffle — including defence secretary Ben Wallace, leader of the Commons Jacob Rees-Mogg and work and pensions secretary Thérèse Coffey — all survived.
