To a lesser extent, Johnson downgraded Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab, who has faced criticism for delaying his return from a holiday in Greece when the Taliban seized Afghanistan on last month.
Raab was appointed secretary of justice with the added title of deputy prime minister. Despite the big headline, this is a degradation: the MP has no formal constitutional role.
The new foreign minister is former Secretary of International Trade Liz Truss, one of the favorites of the Conservative party base, who has won praise for her work in negotiating trade agreements with Australia and Japan since that Britain left the European Union last year. Truss, who is Britain’s second-largest foreign secretary, will also remain minister for women and equality.
Britain’s new foreign secretary, Liz Truss
Anne-Marie Trevelyan replaced Truss as Minister of International Trade.
There was no further change in the top four of the cabinet, with Rishi Sunak in charge of Treasury and Priti Patel as Home Secretary. Secretary of Defense Ben Wallace also kept his job. He has been praised for his task of overseeing the evacuation of thousands of British citizens and their Afghan allies from Kabul last month.
Health Secretary Sajid Javid, who plays a key role in the response to the British pandemic, also remained in office.
Johnson fired Secretary of Education Gavin Williamson, who has been criticized for his performance during the pandemic, which has seen long periods of school closures, sudden policy changes and the cancellation of major exams to gain access. in college two years in a row.
Williamson was replaced by Nadhim Zahawi, who has been vaccine minister, responsible for the country’s inoculation against coronavirus.
Michael Gove, a longtime ally and rival of Johnson, was appointed Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government. The department is key to Johnson’s goal of “leveling up” in the UK, extending prosperity beyond the rich south that is the traditional conservative center. This promise helped Johnson win a major election victory in 2019 by winning votes in Labor-dominated parts of northern England.
Nadine Dorries was promoted to head the Department of Culture, Media and Sport, a position that will see her face thorny issues such as the future of the publicly funded BBC. A frank politician who has often made headlines, Dorries has criticized the “snowflakes of the left” and, in 2012, was suspended by the Conservative Party for retiring from her job as a legislator to appear on the reality TV show. ” I’m a “… Get me out of here” celebrity, filmed in Australia.
Johnson made major changes to his cabinet shortly after the December 2019 election victory, when he sidelined lawmakers he considered insufficiently loyal or lukewarm in his support for Brexit. This left him with a strongly Brexit-friendly team, but critics say he left many competent and ambitious lawmakers out of government.
Opponents of Johnson’s Conservative government say the lack of depth has been shown as the UK. faced the aftershocks of its exit from the EU along with the public health crisis of the coronavirus pandemic and its consequent economic blows. Britain has recorded more than 134,000 deaths from Covid-19, the highest number in Europe after Russia.
Johnson’s office said the prime minister’s changes on Wednesday would lead to “a strong, united team to better recover from the pandemic.”
The cabinet meeting will continue on Thursday.