SpaceWar.com - Your World At War
New UK PM retains finance, foreign and defence chiefs
London, Oct 25 (AFP) Oct 25, 2022
Britain's new Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Tuesday retained several senior ministers from predecessor Liz Truss's top team, including Jeremy Hunt as finance minister, as he bids for a stable transition.

Sunak, 42, kept James Cleverly as foreign secretary and Ben Wallace in defence, despite them both backing an aborted comeback by ex-leader Boris Johnson.

In an astonishing return just days after she quit Truss's cabinet, he re-appointed hardline right-winger Suella Braverman as interior minister, in charge of policing and immigration control.

Sunak also kept his most recent leadership rival Penny Mordaunt, who withdrew from the race Monday after failing to secure enough Tory MPs' support, as Leader of the House of Commons.

The role -- which oversees government business in parliament -- is neither a promotion nor demotion, but may disappoint Mordaunt, who had been tipped for more senior roles such as foreign secretary.

The appointments appear aimed at signalling continuity in top portfolios after the dramatic upheavals seen under Truss.

Grant Shapps, a longtime Johnson loyalist who had briefly replaced Braverman at the interior ministry and backed Sunak in the latest leadership contest, was named business secretary.

The role involves partial oversight of climate policy.

Shapps replaced Johnson's close ally Jacob Rees-Mogg, who was one of at least 10 ministers to leave the cabinet under Sunak's new rule.

Other appointments included Simon Hart as chief whip in charge of party discipline in the House of Commons, which unravelled under Truss and threw government business into disarray.

Oliver Dowden was named chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster, making him a key troubleshooter across cabinet departments.

Nadhim Zahawi became a minister without portfolio, while also reportedly being appointed chairman of the Conservative Party.


ADVERTISEMENT




Space News from SpaceDaily.com
UCF researchers developing new methods to passively mitigate lunar dust for space exploration
NASA Research Shows Path Toward Protocells on Titan
NASA to launch SNIFS, Sun's next trailblazing spectator

24/7 Energy News Coverage
AI helps automate nuclear reactor licensing process at INL
Battery sharing model boosts savings for local energy communities
Bifacial CuInSe2 solar cells achieve record efficiency on transparent substrates

Military Space News, Nuclear Weapons, Missile Defense
Kremlin cautions 'lots of work' ahead before Ukraine peace deal
Eutelsat strikes global satellite internet deal with UK govt
US promises Philippine president to ramp up deterrence on China

24/7 News Coverage
Restoring sea floor after mining may not be possible, researchers warn
China starts construction of Tibet mega-dam
Brazil's Congress passes bill easing environmental licensing rules



All rights reserved. Copyright Agence France-Presse. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presse.