PM to reshuffle more ministerial roles following cabinet changes
The prime minister is expected to continue his reshuffle on Thursday, concentrating on the lower ministerial ranks, with vaccines minister and schools minister among the roles yet to be filled.
Boris Johnson overhauled some of the cabinet’s top positions on Wednesday, sacking education secretary Gavin Williamson and replacing him with vaccines minister Nadhim Zahawi.
He also demoted foreign secretary Dominic Raab, replacing him with international trade secretary Liz Truss.
Robert Buckland and Robert Jenrick departed their roles as justice secretary and housing, communities and local government secretary, respectively.
Schools minister Nick Gibb was also shown the door.
Priti Patel kept her role as home secretary, despite speculation that she would be sacked, while Rishi Sunak will continue as chancellor.
In a tweet following the reshuffle, the prime minister said: “The cabinet I have appointed today will work tirelessly to unite and level up the whole country.”
Mr Raab paid the price for the criticism he received after remaining on holiday in Crete while Afghanistan’s capital Kabul fell to the Taliban. He will, however, now be deputy prime minister.
Mr Williamson was targeted after his mis-handling of schools during the coronavirus pandemic, including closures and a fiasco over the awarding of A-level and GCSE grades.
Last week, he was widely mocked after admitting to confusing England footballer Marcus Rashford with rugby star Maro Itoje.
Mr Zahawi, on the other hand, was rewarded for his efforts in the successful COVID-19 vaccine rollout – almost 90% of those over 16 have had a first dose of the vaccine, while just over 81% are fully vaccinated.
Following his appointment as education secretary, Mr Zahawi said: “Children and young people have had a tough time during this pandemic and I’ll be listening to them and their families as we accelerate our work to build back better and fairer.
Nadhim Zahawi appeared to be happy with his promotion
“From my own experience, I know what a beacon of opportunity this country can be and I want all children, young people and adults to have access to a brilliant education, the right qualifications and opportunities to secure good jobs.”
Oliver Dowden was made co-chairman of the Conservative Party, replacing Amanda Milling.
Anne-Marie Trevelyan, who was international development secretary before her department was merged with the Foreign Office last year, returned to the fold as trade secretary.
Nadine Dorries took Mr Dowden’s culture secretary job.
Steve Barclay succeeded Michael Gove as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, while Mr Gove replaced Mr Jenrick at the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, also taking on cross-government responsibility for Mr Johnson’s “levelling up” agenda.
Health Secretary Sajid Javid, Work and Pensions Secretary Therese Coffey, Commons Leader Jacob Rees-Mogg, and Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis all kept their jobs.
A lawyer representing one of the co-founders of crypto mining service Hashflare has addressed how their criminal case may move forward after the pair received “self-deport” letters from the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
In an April 11 filing in the US District Court for the Western District of Washington, Hashflare co-founders Sergei Potapenko and Ivan Turogin reported they had received a DHS letter directing them to “leave the United States” as part of a push by the Trump administration to effect mass deportations. The government letter contradicted orders from Judge Robert Lasnik, who restricted travel for Potapenko and Turogin as part of their bail conditions.
In February, the Estonian nationals pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud as part of a deal with authorities. Between 2015 and 2019, the two were responsible for defrauding Hashflare users out of more than $550 million. They also raised $25 million from investors in 2017, claiming they would establish a digital bank called Polybius. The firm was never created.
Indicted in October 2022, Potapenko and Turogin were arrested and held in Estonia before their extradition to the US in May 2024. Both have been free on bail since July 2024 but could face up to 20 years in prison each at sentencing.
Ordered to leave, forced to stay
“[Potapenko and Turogin each] got letters from DHS to their personal email saying ‘deport immediately,’” Reed Smith partner and defense counsel Mark Bini told Cointelegraph. “It caused some angst because [our client and his co-defendant], their conditions of release include that they comply with the law. And here you have this letter saying if you stay in the country, you’re breaking the law. And of course, their bail conditions say they can’t leave the Seattle area.”
Related: Russian Gotbit founder strikes $23M plea deal with US prosecutors
The DHS letters ordering certain people to “depart the United States immediately” were reportedly sent to thousands of immigrants who had used the government’s CBP One app to enter the country legally. However, some citizens reported receiving the same letter in US President Donald Trump’s attempts to effect deportations through his office.
Bini initially thought it was a possibility that the US government was suggesting that Potapenko or Turogin “self-deport” to Estonia after the Justice Department issued a memo hinting it would change its enforcement policy in criminal cases involving crypto. The Hashflare co-founders had been expected to remain in the jurisdiction until at least Aug. 14 for their sentencing hearings.
“I have not encountered this situation before, where you have essentially two folks in the federal government telling you conflicting things,” said Bini.
The attorney added that Potapenko or Turogin now carried letters with them at all times that stated DHS had deferred action on their “self-deportation” for one year in the event that authorities mistakenly tried to detain them and remove them from the country. Though the pair could still receive prison time, Potapenko, Turogin and Hashflare reported returning $400 million in crypto payments to users and “agreed to forfeit their interests in assets that the government froze in 2022.”
“We’re going to try and convince the judge to frankly side with DHS and let them self-deport to Estonia to their families because we believe that there was no actual financial harm to the customers of Hashflare,” said Bini. “It’s a weird [case] because for our clients, we want to be deported. Our clients are Estonian. Their families are Estonian.”
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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”.
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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.
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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.
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