Williamson sacked and Raab demoted as PM reshuffles his cabinet
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.
Latest reshuffle news as PM shakes up top team
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.
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.
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.
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”.
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.
Last week, Mr Williamson was widely mocked after he admitted to confusing England footballer Marcus Rashford with rugby star Maro Itoje.
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.
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.”
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.
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.”
Politics
League table of foreign criminals awaiting deportation and their offences set to be published
Politics
Starmer and Zelenskyy discuss ending Russia’s ‘brutal war’ – as Putin says says he is open to bilateral talks on longer ceasefire
Sir Keir Starmer and Volodymyr Zelenskyy spoke about ending Russia’s “brutal war” on Ukraine in their latest phone call on Easter Monday, as Vladimir Putin said he was open to bilateral talks.
The prime minister and Ukrainian president spoke on Monday afternoon, when Sir Keir “reiterated his iron-clad support for Ukraine“.
A Downing Street spokesperson added that the prime minister “said that the UK supports Ukraine’s calls for Russia to commit to a full ceasefire and that now is the time for Putin to show he is serious about ending his brutal war”.
“They discussed the latest developments on the Coalition of the Willing, and looked forward to further progress towards a just and lasting peace,” the spokesperson added.
Mr Zelenskyy later said on social media that he had a “good and detailed conversation” with the prime minister, and added Ukrainian officials will be in London for talks on ending the war with Russia on Wednesday.
“We are ready to move forward as constructively as possible, just as we have done before, to achieve an unconditional ceasefire, followed by the establishment of a real and lasting peace,” he added.
The Ukrainian president added that the 30-hour Easter truce, which both Kyiv and Moscow accuse the other of violating, showed that Russia “are prolonging the war”.
It comes as Mr Putin proposed bilateral talks with Ukraine on a longer ceasefire, which would mark the first time Russia held such talks since a failed peace deal soon after the invasion in 2022.
Speaking to a state TV reporter, the Russian president said: “We always have a positive attitude towards a truce, which is why we came up with such an initiative (the Easter truce), especially since we are talking about the bright Easter days.”
When asked about Mr Zelenskyy’s calls to extend the 30-hour ceasefire into a 30-day pause on civilian targets, he added: “This is all a subject for careful study, perhaps even bilaterally. We do not rule this out.”
The Ukrainian president said on Sunday evening that the Russian army had “violated Putin’s ceasefire more than 2,000 times” during the day, and accused Russia of “failing” to “uphold its own promise of a ceasefire”.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
From Saturday: Why Putin offered an Easter truce?
It also comes after Donald Trump has said he hopes Russia and Ukraine “will make a deal this week,” after he and his secretary of state Marco Rubio warned that the US will walk away from efforts to broker a peace deal unless there are clear signs of progress soon.
The US president said on his Truth Social platform that both countries would “start to do big business” with the US after ending the war.
Read more from Sky News:
Murder arrest after woman stabbed to death
Who could be the next pope?
Last month, Ukraine accepted Mr Trump’s proposal for a 30-day truce, but Mr Putin refused to back a full 30-day ceasefire, saying crucial issues of verification had not been sorted out.
He then said he would agree not to target Ukraine’s energy infrastructure. However, both sides have accused each other of breaking the moratorium on attacks on energy targets and at sea.
-
Sports2 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports1 year agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports1 year agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Sports2 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports4 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Environment2 years agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Environment2 years agoGame-changing Lectric XPedition launched as affordable electric cargo bike
-
Business3 years agoBank of England’s extraordinary response to government policy is almost unthinkable | Ed Conway