Gavin Williamson has been sacked as education secretary in a cabinet reshuffle that has also seen Dominic Raab removed from the Foreign Office.
Mr Raab, who had been heavily criticised for his handling of the Afghanistan crisis while foreign secretary, will now become justice secretary and deputy prime minister.
He has been replaced as foreign secretary by Liz Truss, who was formerly the international trade secretary.
Mr Raab’s change of roles is the most high-profile move in a reshuffle of cabinet ministers being carried out on Wednesday by Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
Image: Gavin Williamson has been sacked as education secretary
Earlier, Number 10 confirmed Mr Williamson had been removed as education secretary, while Robert Buckland and Robert Jenrick have also departed their roles as justice secretary and housing, communities and local government secretary, respectively.
All three have left the government entirely, with Mr Williamson being replaced by Nadhim Zahawi, who was previously the COVID vaccines minister.
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Mr Jenrick will be replaced by Michael Gove, with Downing Street saying the long-time minister will also take on “cross-government responsibility for levelling up”.
Mr Gove has become the fourth secretary of state at the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government since its rebrand in 2018.
It has been a privilege to serve as Education Secretary since 2019. Despite the challenges of the global pandemic, I’m particularly proud of the transformational reforms I’ve led in Post 16 education: in further education colleges, our Skills agenda, apprenticeships and more.
Amanda Milling was another victim of the reshuffle, as she left her role as Conservative Party co-chair less than three weeks before the Tory conference in Manchester.
It follows the Conservatives’ recent loss in the Chesham and Amersham by-election and a failure to take the Batley and Spen seat off Labour.
Ms Milling will be replaced by Mr Dowden, who will also become a Cabinet Office minister after moving from his job as culture secretary.
Nadine Dorries, who has written a number of novels and previously appeared on TV show I’m A Celebrity, has replaced Mr Dowden as culture secretary after moving from her role as a health minister.
Image: Liz Truss has replaced Mr Raab as foreign secretary
The criticism of Mr Raab’s handling of the Afghanistan crisis included anger at his decision to take a summer holiday as the country fell to the Taliban.
There were also reports of tensions between Mr Raab’s Foreign Office and the Ministry of Defence during the air evacuation of British nationals and eligible Afghans from Kabul last month.
In 2020, Mr Raab deputised for Mr Johnson while the prime minister was treated in intensive care with COVID-19.
And he will now formally take on the role as deputy prime minister after the position was revived by Mr Johnson.
The last deputy prime minister prior to Mr Raab was former Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg as part of the coalition government.
Mr Raab, a former lawyer, has also been appointed the sixth justice secretary in six years as he replaces Mr Buckland.
In a Twitter post on Wednesday afternoon in which he revealed his departure from the cabinet, Mr Williamson said it had “been a privilege to serve as education secretary since 2019” and that he was “particularly proud of the transformational reforms I’ve led in post-16 education”.
He added he would “look forward to continue to support the prime minister and the government”.
It has been an honour to serve in Government for the last 7 years, and as the Lord Chancellor for the last 2.
I am deeply proud of everything I have achieved. On to the next adventure
Mr Williamson had faced regular criticism of his handling of the education brief during the COVID-19 crisis, including over the pandemic-enforced shutting of schools and a fiasco over the awarding of A-level and GCSE grades.
As a former Tory chief whip, Mr Williamson was widely credited with securing the vast support for Mr Johnson among Conservative MPs during the party’s 2019 leadership contest.
He was previously campaign manager for Theresa May’s successful leadership campaign and – with a reputation as one of Westminster’s most formidable organisers – it has been suggested he could prove to be a threat to Mr Johnson on the back benches.
Image: Robert Jenrick was last year at the centre of a row over a Tory donor’s planning approval
It is the second time Mr Williamson has been sacked from government, following his departure as defence secretary in 2019 over a row about the leaking of information about Huawei’s involvement in the UK’s 5G network.
Mr Buckland also posted on Twitter to confirm his departure from cabinet.
He said he was looking to “the next adventure” and that he was “deeply proud of everything I have achieved” after serving in government for the past seven years.
Mr Jenrick, who last year was at the centre of a row over planning approval granted to a Conservative donor, tweeted that it had been a “huge privilege” to have led the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG).
“Thank you to everyone at the department for their hard work, dedication and friendship. I’m deeply proud of all we achieved,” he added.
“I will continue to support the prime minister and the government in every way I can.”
It’s been a huge privilege to serve as Secretary of State @mhclg. Thank you to everyone at the department for their hard work, dedication and friendship. I’m deeply proud of all we achieved.
I will continue to support the Prime Minister and the Government in every way I can.
The prime minister is expected to complete the reshuffle of his cabinet today, with changes to lower ministerial ranks to be finalised on Thursday.
Confirmation that Mr Johnson would hold a widely-anticipated reshuffle of his ministers came during Wednesday’s session of Prime Minister’s Questions.
A Number 10 source said Mr Johnson would look to “put in place a strong and united team” to help the country recover from the COVID pandemic.
Image: Robert Buckland had served as justice secretary since 2019
They also said the prime minister was looking for his government to “redouble our efforts to deliver on the people’s priorities” and Mr Johnson would appoint ministers “with a focus on uniting and levelling up the whole country”.
At a briefing for Westminster journalists, the prime minister’s official spokesman said Mr Johnson had not consulted his wife Carrie on the reshuffle.
Earlier in the day, Mr Johnson’s former chief adviser Dominic Cummings had branded the imminent moving of ministers as the “Carrie Reshuffle”.
Labour deputy leader Angela Rayner welcomed Mr Williamson’s removal as education secretary, but added: “He should have been sacked over a year ago.
“That prat’s absolute idiocy, failures and uselessness have damaged the life chances of our country’s children and this government has failed young people, teachers and education staff.”
The new leader of the Green Party has revealed he spoke to Jeremy Corbyn this week amid suggestions there could be a pact between their two parties.
Zack Polanski, who comfortably beat his rivals Adrian Ramsay and Ellie Chowns to win the Green Party’s leadership election, told the Politics Hub with Sophy Ridge that he spoke to the former Labour leader on Monday.
There have been suggestions that the Greens could join forces with Mr Corbyn’s new party – which does not yet have a formal name – to avoid splitting the vote on the left.
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11:58
Polanski on Corbyn, NATO and flags
The question of a future potential pact with Mr Corbyn and his co-leader, the independent MP Zarah Sultana, became an issue in the Green Party’s leadership election, with Mr Polanski more keen on the idea than his co-leadership rivals.
The former Labour leader had tabled a private members’ bill calling for an independent public inquiry into the UK’s involvement in Israeli military operations in Gaza, but it did not progress in the House of Commons.
He said Mr Corbyn’s inquiry was “the exact kind of example where even if someone is from a different party, but I’m absolutely aligned with what they’re doing, then I’ll always call out what I think is good for this country and good for our global politics”.
My Corbyn congratulated Mr Polanski for his “stunning victory” after the results were announced, and added: “Your campaign took on the rich and powerful, stood up for the dignity of all marginalised communities, and gave people hope! Real change is coming. I look forward to working with you to create a fairer, kinder world.”
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Mr Polanski, who is currently serving as deputy leader, won the election on a platform of “eco-populism”, which he says will make the Greens a real alternative to Labour and Reform UK.
The London Assembly member, who is not an MP, will now become the party’s only leader, after Bristol MP Carla Denyer stepped down from her joint role with Mr Ramsay, triggering the contest.
While Mr Polanski has strongly criticised the policies of Nigel Farage, he has acknowledged his cut-through with voters, and has argued that the Green Party needs to offer a bolder message to voters, in the guise of wealth taxes and net zero policies.
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39:49
In full: Tuesday’s Politics Hub
The new Green leader also weighed into the debate about flying the St George’s Cross, after the prime minister Sir Keir Starmer said he had one in his office – while also cautioning against the flag being used as a political statement.
Asked what he thought of the St George’s Cross, Mr Polanski said: “I think that migration is at the heart of this country. Migrants contribute a huge amount. That’s not a new thing – that has been traditionally throughout our history and that the English flag means different things to different people.
“And I think if people want to wave it because they’re being patriotic, particularly at football tournaments, I think there’s a huge space for patriotism in this country.
“But I’m also aware that for lots of people who have arrived in this country or people who aren’t even migrants, to be frank, Black and Asian communities, the flag can mean very different things around colonialism and empire. And that’s the thing about flags. It means different things to different people.”
Image: Zack Polanski. Pic: PA
He said he believed the idea of flying the English flag outside homes not in the context of sport was “quite imported from America”.
“If people want to do that then I think that’s up to people what they want to do.
“But I think at times of heightened tensions, I would say patriotism is actually about loving your neighbour, whether they’re from this country or not.”
Zack Polanski, the new leader of the Green Party, has been studying one politician closely this summer – Nigel Farage.
The 42-year-old, who stormed his party’s leadership contest by a large margin, calls himself an “eco-populist” (he used to be involved in Extinction Rebellion), and thinks the Greens could learn a lot from the media-savvy tactics of Reform which have seen them surge ahead of Labour in the polls.
Can the former actor and hypnotherapist, who rails against corporations and wants to tax the rich, take his party into the big leagues?
Image: Zack Polanski. Pic: PA
Speaking to him after his win was announced, Mr Polanski told me: “I despise Nigel Farage’s politics and I’d never copy what he does, but it’s undeniable that he cuts through; everyone knows who he is and that bold messaging – but for the truth, not the lies and misinformation he spins – that’s what you’ll hear more of from the Green Party.”
Mr Polanski is not an MP – he’s been on the London Assembly since 2021 and served as the party’s deputy leader. His two rivals in the leadership contest Adrian Ramsay, one of the party’s current leaders, and Ellie Chowns, were elected last year, but are not well-known to the public.
His more aggressive style and punchy social media clips appealed to party members impatient for results. His videos target “corporations who are destroying our democracy”; warn that “fascism is at our doorstep” and “call bullshit” – as he puts it – on the debate about asylum.
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As one of the members at the event summed it up: “People don’t know what we stand for, we need to be loud and clear about what we’re for and what we’re against, and Zac will do that.”
He’s put some noses out of joint within the party, and the tabloid press has called him the “boob whisperer” after The Sun reported in 2013 that, while working as a hypnotherapist, he told a woman who wanted bigger breasts that she could do so with the power of her mind. Mr Polanski apologised and says he is focused on the future.
Image: Pic: PA
His ambitions are high for the fifth party in British politics – currently polling at around 10%.
“Thirty to forty MPs at the next election”, he says. Enough to deny Labour a majority if it’s close, or to be kingmakers. As politics fractures, he hopes they could have a big impact for the first time in decades.
The Green Party in the UK – unlike its counterparts in other European countries – has struggled electorally until very recently. It was formed in a pub in Coventry in 1972 by activists inspired by the US environmentalist Paul Ehrlich, who warned that the world was overpopulated, spelling disaster for nature.
Its biggest success was in the 1989 European elections, gaining 15% of the vote, but representation in parliament was not achieved until 2010 when Caroline Lucas took Brighton Pavilion from Labour. She became an influential campaigner on the climate, fracking and animal rights, also warning against economic growth at any cost.
After she stood down, the party struggled to find its voice, with Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour Party pursuing a radical left-wing agenda. Now, after winning four MPs last year, Mr Polanski believes that with Labour in government and Reform at its coat tails, their moment has come.
He told members: “We can, and we will lower your bills. We will nationalise the water companies. We will hold this Labour government to account.
“Because when we look at Keir Starmer and what this government have been doing; whether it’s the two-child benefit cap, the disability cuts, the genocide in Gaza, my message to Labour is very clear: we are not here to be disappointed by you. We are not here to be concerned by you. We’re here to replace you.”
All of that may not endear him to all the Green Party’s potential supporters. The party now has 860 councillors, but some are in rural areas where they’ve won seats from the Tories.
There is a political opportunity on the left. Mr Polanski says he knows what will get his party into the spotlight. But it’s a far bigger task to deliver seats in parliament – including one he’ll need for himself.