EDUCATION Secretary Gavin Williamson and Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab are the highest profile casualties of the Prime Minister’s cabinet reshuffle
The gaffe-prone Williamson who supported Boris Johnson in his leadership bid in 2019 has been removed from Government after a series of blunders over exam grades and latterly confusing the footballer Marcus Rashford and the rugby union star Maro Itoje.
Raab has been removed after controversy over his handling of the withdrawal of forces from Afghanistan which saw him remain on holiday as the Taliban swept back to power. He has been replaced by International Trade Secretary Liz Truss, meaning two of the three ‘great offices of state’ below Prime Minister are held by women.
Mr Williamson joins Justice Secretary Robert Buckland and Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick outside Government and seemingly on the backbenches in a reshuffle being described by Downing Street as ‘meaty’.
Mr Jenrick will be replaced by Michael Gove as Housing and Local Communities Secretary as the Government seeks to tackle its planning reform problems, widely blamed for its loss in the Chesham and Amersham by-election in the summer.
Mr Raab has been named the new Justice Secretary to replace Mr Buckland. While Mr Raab is a former laywer, the move is a demotion despite his retention of the role of Deputy Prime Minister.
Priti Patel will remain the Home Office and Conservative Party co-chairman Amanda Milling has also been removed as Conservative Party co-chair.
Oliver Dowden will replace her with former I’m a Celebrity jungle star Nadine Dorries taking on the Culture Secretary brief. Stratford-upon-Avon MP Nadhim Zahawi moves from Vaccine Minister to Education Secretary while Ben Wallace remains as Defence Secretary.
Worcestershire currently has four MPs within Government with Worcester MP Robin Walker serving as Northern Ireland Minister, Evesham’s MP Nigel Huddleston as Sports Minister and Minister of State for the Commonwealth Games and Redditch MP Rachel Maclean who serves as a transport minister.
Bromsgrove’s MP Sajid Javid returned to the Government as Health Secretary during the summer after Matt Hancock was forced to resign after a tabloid newspaper exposed his extra marital affair.
It’s expected ministerial jobs will be tackled by the Prime Minister tomorrow (Thursday)
