UK PM Liz Truss appoints diverse Cabinet in shake-up of old guard

Prime Minister Liz Truss held her first Cabinet meeting at 10 Downing Street on Wednesday after unveiling one of the UK's most diverse Cabinets at a "vital time" for the country, with key frontline posts going to ethnic minority MPs, including Indian-origin Suella Braverman as the Home Secretary.

Truss' complete shake-up of the old guard under predecessor Boris Johnson saw her flanked by several new faces and ethnic minority members of Parliament on the Conservative government front bench in Parliament, including Braverman, Ghanaian-origin Kwasi Kwarteng as the UK’s first black Chancellor and mixed Sierra Leone and white heritage James Cleverly as the Foreign Secretary.

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"I will take immediate action to help people with their energy bills but also secure our long-term energy supply,” said Truss while making her Prime Minister's Questions (PMQs) debut in the House of Commons.

"I will take immediate action to make sure we have lower taxes and we grow the economy and that way I will ensure we have a positive future for our country and we get Britain moving," she said.

The new leader also confirmed plans of a major announcement on Thursday to address the cost-of-living crisis, with a freeze on energy bills widely expected to be the immediate action the new leader would put in place.

After what has been dubbed a purge of her leadership campaign critics and rival Rishi Sunak supporters, only a few incumbent ministers hold on to their portfolios – including Agra-born Alok Sharma, who retains his climate action job as COP26 President, and Ben Wallace who remains Defence Secretary.

London-born junior minister Ranil Jayawardena, of mixed Sri Lankan and Indian heritage, has been promoted as Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

Many senior Tories who had backed Truss' rival, British Indian former finance minister Sunak, find themselves without a job – including former justice secretary Dominic Raab, transport secretary Grant Shapps and health secretary Steve Barclay. The wife of armed forces veterans affairs minister, Johnny Mercer, took to Twitter in anger after her husband was unceremoniously sacked.

"Best person I know sacked by an imbecile Liz Truss,” tweeted Felicity Cornelius-Mercer.

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Instead, Truss has packed the top tier of her Cabinet with close allies, such as Therese Coffey as Deputy Prime Minister and Secretary of State for Health and Social Care and Wendy Morton as the Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury and the first Tory female Chief Whip in charge of party discipline.

Former Tory leadership contender, Kemi Badenoch, is the new International Trade Secretary, with incumbent Anne-Marie Trevelyan shifted as Transport Secretary.

Other former contestants, Tom Tugendhat and Penny Mordaunt have also been handed roles as Minister for Security and Leader of the Commons respectively.

Iraqi-origin Nadhim Zahawi, who also made a bid for the top job in the early stages, has been appointed Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister of Equalities, while Brandon Lewis is the new Justice Secretary.

Former junior ministers Jacob Rees-Mogg and Simon Clarke have been promoted as Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, and Levelling Up and Housing respectively, and former policing minister Kit Malthouse is the new Education Secretary.

"We have huge reserves of talent, of energy, and determination,” Truss said in her inaugural address outside 10 Downing Street on Tuesday.

"I am confident that together we can: ride out the storm, we can rebuild our economy, and we can become the modern brilliant Britain that I know we can be. This is our vital mission to ensure opportunity and prosperity for all people and future generations. I am determined to deliver,” she said.

Her speech followed an audience with Queen Elizabeth II at Balmoral Castle in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, where the 96-year-old monarch formally asked her to form a new government.

Truss has pledged to "transform Britain into an aspiration nation with high paying jobs, safe streets and where everyone everywhere has the opportunities they deserve”. She has acknowledged the tough challenges she faces with spiralling energy bills creating a cost-of-living crisis but insisted that she has a plan to “ride out the storm”.