Rishi picks his team, allies get top job: Reports
Rishi Sunak named Suella Braverman as Home Secretary less than a week after the barrister-cum-politician was forced to resign. She had to quit over sending an official document from her personal email to a fellow MP, in a serious breach of ministerial rules.
What we gather from reports emerging out of British media is that in the shake-up on Tuesday, just hours after Sunak was formally appointed as Britain's 57th Prime Minister, top Rishi-backer Dominic Raab made a comeback as Justice Secretary and Deputy Prime Minister. Oliver Dowden became Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster.
Jeremy Hunt became Rishi Sunak's first appointment to his new cabinet. He will serve as Chancellor of the Exchequer. Michael Gove has just been confirmed as the levelling up secretary. He has been an MP for Surrey Heath for almost 20 years, the BBC reports.
Thérèse Coffey has been appointed as the new secretary of state for environment, food and rural affairs.
Gillian Keegan has been appointed secretary of state for education. Liz Truss appointed Keegan to the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office in September this year, BBC added.
Sunak appointed James Cleverly, Ben Wallace, Grant Shapps, Gillian Keegan and Therese Coffey who were in Johnson's cabinet.
Kemi Badenoch has been reappointed trade secretary. Steve Barclay has been appointed health secretary
Former Wales Secretary Simon Hart returned to Cabinet as Chief Whip. Steve Barclay is back as Health and Social Care Secretary after a brief stint in the job during the dying days of the Johnson government, The Sun reports.
In an olive branch to the Borisites and Trussites in the party, James Cleverly kept his job as Foreign Secretary and Ben Wallace stayed on as Defence Secretary, the British tabloid added.
Who are out
Jake Berry, Jacob Rees-Mogg, Robert Buckland, Kit Malthouse, Chloe Smith, Vicky Ford, Wendy Morton, Brandon Lewis, Ranil Jayawardena, Simon Clarke.
Who are in
Jeremy Hunt, Dominic Raab, Simon Hart, James Cleverly, Ben Wallace,Nadhim Zahawi, Oliver Dowden, Suella Braverman, Grant Shapps, Penny Mordaunt, Gillian Keegan, Mel Stride, Therese Coffey, Steve Barclay, Michael Gove, Kemi Badenoch, Michelle Donelan, Alister Jack, Chris Heaton-Harris, David TC Davies.
Is there a cap on the number of ministers?
There are strict rules around how many ministers a prime minister can appoint.
The Ministerial and Other Salaries Act 1975 sets out the prime minister can appoint 22 cabinet ministers.
Weirdly, The Guardian reports that the rules don't limit the number of ministers who can attend cabinet meetings. The rules around this are slightly more fluid. There were 10 people in Boris Johnson’s December 2019 government who attended cabinet without being full cabinet ministers.
What the act does cap is the number of paid ministerial roles at 109. If all cabinet ministers are filled then there can be a maximum of 29 other junior ministers and the rest are a mix of law officers, and roles focused on keeping the machinery of government moving - such as whips, the report said.
Known as the payroll vote, this massive block of MPs is expected to vote with the government in normal times., it added.