Rishi Sunak appointing new cabinet – here’s who is in and out
Rishi Sunak is appointing his cabinet after being asked by the King to form a new government.
The new prime minister has promised to form a government of “all the talents” amid calls from senior Tories to appoint the best ministers available – rather than focusing on those who are loyal to him, as his two predecessors had done.
New PM – latest from Downing Street
Here’s who is in and out of Mr Sunak’s new government:
Who’s in so far?
Jeremy Hunt is keeping his job as chancellor, having reversed the majority of Liz Truss’s mini-budget Mr Sunak warned would be detrimental to the economy just over a week ago.
Seen as a steady hand, keeping Mr Hunt could be an attempt to reassure the markets.
Mr Hunt is due to lay out plans for balancing the books with a fiscal statement on 31 October.
His appointment could also be seen as political, as Mr Hunt had backed Mr Sunak in the last two leadership races.
James Cleverly has been reappointed to foreign secretary.
He is the first Liz Truss backer to stay in post under the new prime minister, in what could be seen as a show of unity following months of divisive politics within the Conservative Party.
After Ms Truss resigned, Mr Cleverly initially came out in support of Boris Johnson’s return to the top job.
But after the ex-PM gave up on his comeback, Mr Cleverly voiced support for Mr Sunak, saying he was the most experienced candidate for the job.
Although he backed Boris Johnson’s leadership bid, Ben Wallace has also kept his job as defence secretary.
He is one of the few cabinet secretaries to keep their job during both Mr Johnson and Ms Truss’s premierships – and now Mr Sunak.
It was not a given Mr Wallace would accept the job as Mr Sunak has not publicly committed to spending 3% of GDP on defence by 2030.
Mr Wallace had said that was a red line for him and would quit if that pledge by Liz Truss was not kept to.
Suella Braverman is back as home secretary – less than a week she quit for breaching the ministerial code by sending classified documents from her personal email.
Her shock resignation came the day before Ms Truss followed her out of the door, and in an explosive letter to the former PM, she expressed “concerns about the direction of this government”, including its commitment to reducing immigration.
Ms Braverman has taken a tough stance on small boat crossings, and previously said it was her “dream” to see the Rwanda deportation flights take off.
From the right wing of the party, the former attorney general was not a natural Rishi Sunak supporter, announcing her backing of him late on Sunday.
Her appointment will be seen as trying to keep all wings of the party onboard, while showing Mr Sunak’s intention to take a hard line on immigration.
However, it could raise eyebrows given the nature of her resignation and past controversial comments.
One of Ms Braverman’s most notable speeches during her short time as home secretary under Ms Truss was when she blamed protest disruption on the “tofu-eating wokerati”.
Labour’s shadow home secretary, Yvette Cooper, has criticised the appointment, accusing the Mr Sunak of putting “party before country”.
“Security is too important for this irresponsible Tory chaos,” she tweeted.
Penny Mordaunt, Mr Sunak’s two-time leadership rival, will be keeping her job as Commons Leader.
She had hoped to become prime minister, but was forced to bow out of the race at the last minute on Monday after failing to get the backing of enough MPs, leaving Mr Sunak as the only person left to be PM.
Sources close to her told Sky News last night she was hoping to be appointed as foreign secretary – so her appointment today may come as a blow.
The main role of a Commons leader is to organise government business in the House of Commons.
Sky News Chief political correspondent Jon Craig says she didn’t look too happy with the “graveyard slot in the Commons” when leaving Number 10.
Dominic Raab has been appointed deputy PM and justice secretary,
The loyal supporter of Mr Sunak has been handed his old jobs back, having held these roles for under Boris Johnson.
When the former prime minister was in hospital with COVID it was Mr Raab who took on the running of the country.
However, he was demoted from foreign secretary to justice secretary last September following criticism of his handling of the Afghanistan withdrawal.
During the leadership race to replace Mr Johnson, Mr Raab had called Ms Truss’s tax plans “electoral suicide” – so it was no surprise when he returned to the backbenches during her brief premiership.
Now that he has returned to his former post, one of the most pressing challenges he faces is reducing backlogs in the courts.
Grant Shapps, who was drafted in to replace Ms Braverman as home secretary just six days ago, has been appointed as business and energy secretary.
The Rishi Sunak ally has a wealth of experience in cabinet, having served as transport secretary under Boris Johnson.
Meanwhile, Michael Gove has been reappointed to his old job as levelling up secretary – three months after being sacked by Boris Johnson.
Mr Gove was one of the first cabinet ministers to wield the knife as support around Mr Johnson crumbled back in July.
His comeback could be a tactical move by Mr Sunak, as Mr Gove has not been shy in criticising the government from the backbenches.
Steve Barclay has been appointed health secretary – taking over the position from Therese Coffey.
The former Brexit Secretary under Theresa May served as health secretary briefly over the summer in Boris Johnson’s interim cabinet.
Therese Coffey, a close friend and ally of Liz Truss who was deputy prime minister until today, has been appointed environment secretary under Rishi Sunak.
She had also held the position of health secretary – which has now been handed to Steve Barclay.
The former Brexit Secretary under Theresa May served as health secretary briefly over the summer in Boris Johnson’s interim cabinet.
Gillian Keegan is Secretary of State for Education.
She is the fifth person to hold this role in just over a year – following the sacking of Gavin Williamson last September.
He was replaced by Nadhim Zahawi, and then Michelle Donelan, who quit after just 36 hours in the role during the mass exodus from Boris Johnson’s’ government.
She was replaced by James Cleverly, now foreign secretary, and Kit Malthouse, who left his government role earlier today.
A former junior minister in the education department, this is Ms Keegan’s first cabinet position.
Under Mr Johnson, Ms Keegan was the parliamentary under-secretary for apprenticeships and skills. She was then care and mental health minister in the health department and Liz Truss made her parliamentary under-secretary for Africa.
Kemi Badenoch, a former leadership candidate, has been reappointed as international trade secretary.
She is also minister for women and equalities under Rishi Sunak.
Ms Badenoch, the MP for Saffron Walden, was first handed the cabinet post by Liz Truss.
Simon Hart has been appointed chief whip.
A popular MP across the party and former Welsh secretary, he is a good communicator so a natural for the job.
The chief whip is in charge of party discipline, telling Tory MPs how they should vote in certain votes.
Mel Stride has been confirmed as the new work and pensions secretary.
It is perhaps unsurprising that he secured a cabinet position after running Rishi Sunak’s campaign in the Tory leadership contest over the summer.
Mr Stride was leader of the House of Commons between May and July of 2019.
He has also held a series of positions in the Treasury, and has loudly called for benefits to rise in line with inflation.
Nadhim Zahawi has been appointed Conservative Party chairman.
Mr Zahawi was chancellor for a short period under Boris Johnson after Mr Sunak resigned – and famously called on the ex-PM to quit days after accepting the top cabinet job.
He also served as a vaccines minister and education secretary under Mr Johnson, and he was the made Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster under Ms Truss.
His appointment as chairman may come as a surprise, as he had backed Mr Johnson to return as prime minister during the last leadership race just weeks after calling for him to go.
After Mr Johnson withdrew from the race, he voiced support for Mr Sunak.
His new role will see him attend cabinet meetings but he will not have a department.
A loyal Sunak supporter, Michelle Donelan has kept her job as secretary for digital, culture, media and sport.
The Chippenham MP was given the job by Liz Truss after taking over from Nadine Dorries, who Boris Johnson appointed.
She has previously signalled she could U-turn on Ms Dorries’ controversial plans to privatise Channel 4, saying the case was being “re-examined”.
Ms Donelan, who became an MP when Mr Sunak did in 2015, was previously education secretary for just two days under Boris Johnson.
He appointed her after a wave of cabinet resignations in July but she quit as, she said, Mr Johnson had “put us in an impossible position”.
Before that short tenure, she was a government whip, parliamentary under-secretary for children then universities minister before becoming minister for higher and further education, where she attended cabinet.
Chris Heaton-Harris has been reappointed as Northern Ireland secretary under Rishi Sunak.
He was first appointed to this role by Liz Truss at the start of September.
He arguably has one of the most difficult portfolios, given the collapsed executive in Northern Ireland – where another election could soon be triggered – and disputes with the EU over post-Brexit trading arrangements.
Rishi Sunak’s closest political friend has been given the important role of running the Cabinet Office.
He will be Mr Sunak’s ears and eyes in the Cabinet Office, which supports the PM and the cabinet, and ensures the effective running of government.
Who’s left so far:
Ahead of Mr Sunak announcing his key posts, a number of Liz Truss’s cabinet have already announced they are leaving government.
Jacob Rees-Mogg kicked off the resignations on Tuesday, leaving his post as business secretary.
A close ally of both Boris Johnson and Ms Truss, he had earlier said he was not expecting to serve in Mr Sunak’s cabinet.
Mr Rees-Mogg famously called Mr Sunak a “socialist” during this summer’s Conservative Party leadership race because he refused to commit to the same level of tax cuts as Ms Truss – though today he backed down on those comments.
In his resignation letter, he wished Mr Sunak “every success” but added: “It is time to go.
“In the interests of the nation, the Conservative Party must unite under your leadership and I shall do all I can to support you.”
Brandon Lewis, has also resigned as justice secretary, saying Mr Sunak has his “support from the backbenches”.
“Our party is at a crossroads,” Mr Lewis said in his resignation letter to the prime minister, adding that it is time to “reunite and rebuild”.
Robert Buckland is out as Welsh secretary, writing on Twitter that he was leaving “at my request”.
Mr Buckland initially supported Mr Sunak in the summer, but swapped to back Ms Truss.
Jake Berry said it was an “honour” to serve as Conservative Party chairman but “all good things must come to an end”.
The Truss-backing MP for Rossendale and Darwen said he will “relish” his chance to serve his constituents again.
Kit Malthouse, the fourth education secretary this year, tweeted: “As I leave the DfE, I do so with profound gratitude to officials, my private office team, and brilliant advisers, who all worked so hard.
“I hope my successor can harness their commitment to the most important mission in Whitehall: the future and welfare of our children.”
Chole Smith is also out as secretary of state for work and pensions. She was a big ally of Ms Truss, and had been reviewing whether to uprate benefits in line with inflation.
Ranil Jayawardena is also out as environment secretary.
He wrote to Rishi Sunak: “I know that you wish for a new team to join you in HM government, so I write to stand aside.”
He added that he is “sure that HM Government will continue to deliver, and you will have my support in doing so”.
Levelling Up Secretary Simon Clarke has also left his role.
He said it was a “great privilege” to serve in the department, as well as in his previous role as chief secretary to the Treasury.
Mr Clarke was one of Liz Truss’s most vocal supporters during the summer.
He tweeted: “My loyalty to @trussliz and @BorisJohnson was sincere to the last and I appreciate deeply the opportunity they gave me. But I meant every word that I said yesterday: @Conservatives must unite under our new PM and should all work to ensure @RishiSunak succeeds. He has my support.”
Chief Whip Wendy Morton has also left the government, writing on Twitter that she is “heading to the backbenches”.
Her exit is perhaps unsurprising, as Ms Morton presided over a chaotic parliamentary party under Ms Truss’s premiership.
Her short time in the role culminated in farcical scenes during a Commons vote on fracking the night before Ms Truss announced her resignation, with claims of MPs being “bullied” into voting with the government.
Foreign minister Vicky Ford has also left the government. She told Sky News political correspondent Joe Pike that “space was needed to bring in new talent”.
She added: “I think that Rishi will make a very good government from all different parts of the party.
“Some of us need to move on in order to make sure he’s got room to bring in some really good talent from all across the party.”
Alok Sharma has departed as minister of state at the cabinet office. He will remain COP26 president and will negotiate on behalf of the UK at COP27.
World
‘We don’t have anything for winter’: Families fear months ahead after earthquake wiped out entire villages in Afghanistan
It is a breathtaking and, at points, pretty perilous journey through the remote mountainous region of eastern Afghanistan.
We’re trying to reach the Mazar Dara valley, where an earthquake wiped out whole villages. The force of the quake ripped apart roads, cut off communities and buried multiple generations.
It’s slow going – navigating around sheer drops on a road scattered with rocks and boulders. But after three hours, we start to see the first signs of the disaster that, within minutes, plunged this region into darkness.
Last month’s earthquake killed some 2,000 people and was one of the worst Afghanistan has seen
We are driving into Wadir, a village in Nurgal District, where everyone we meet has lost someone. The earthquake, which struck around midnight, killed many in their sleep here, especially women and children.
Standing by a makeshift graveyard peppered with white flags and gravestones, we meet little Rahmanullah. He’s eight but looks much younger, and his glassy eyes look heavy with grief.
His fragile, tiny hands point to the grave where his six-year-old brother Abouzar is buried. He was sleeping alongside him.
The earthquake struck around midnight and killed many in their sleep
The only reason Rahmanullah survived was because his older sibling, Saied Rahman, was able to pull him out.
“I was asleep when I heard a crash,” Rahmanullah tells me. “My brother said ‘it’s an earthquake, get up, or the building will fall on you’.
“He took my hand and pulled me out, put me on some wood, and said, ‘get out quick’.”
Saied Rahman pulled Rahmanullah from his home during the quake
Rahmanullah takes us up a steep hill to show us what remains of his home.
On the edge of a vast drop, it is now a mound of rubble – only a broken bed and shoes left behind.
Rahmanullah (pictured) lost his younger brother Abouzar after the earthquake in Wadir
The earthquake killed some 2,000 people and was one of the worst Afghanistan has seen. And it came at an already desperate time for Afghans – with an economic crisis, rising unemployment, drought and malnutrition.
The quake’s epicentre was near the city of Jalalabad
In Afghanistan, there has been a seemingly endless cycle of hunger and displacement. Compounding those problems since the Taliban took control in 2021, aid has dropped off a cliff.
This year, the US cut almost all of its funding to the country, and it’s had a massive impact.
The demise of the US Agency for International Development this year has forced the closure of 400 health facilities and left hundreds of thousands of Afghans without consistent access to food.
Nearly everyone we spoke to in this region praised the speed and effectiveness of the Taliban response – the government sending in helicopters to evacuate the injured and the dead.
White tents have sprouted up next to each affected village too – a sign international aid was able to get to these far-flung communities against the odds.
But winter is coming, and sickness is starting to spread. In Andarlackhak, we meet Ajeebah. She’s keen to speak to us in private, in the tent she now calls home.
She married at 10 years old and went on to have 10 children. But five of them died in the quake – three-year-old Shabhana, seven-year-old Wali Khan, nine-year-old twins Razimah and Nasreen, and 13-year-old Saleha.
Ajeebah, with her niece Zarmina, 22, daughter Asiya, 8, and son Abdul Raziq, 11
Their mother is clearly still processing the immense, almost unimaginable loss.
“I don’t want to bury them. What could I do?” she says. “I can’t keep them outside. But I don’t want to put them in a graveyard.”
Outside, dozens of children are playing, many orphaned by the disaster.
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Children, many of whom are orphaned, are living in tents
Malnutrition is a major issue in Afghanistan and keeping these children fed will be an overwhelming burden in the months ahead.
With women unable to work under the Taliban and a struggling economy, families were already in dire straits.
Mohammad Salem, who’s 45, has injured his foot. And he’s deeply worried about the months ahead.
“We don’t have anything for winter,” he said. “The snow is coming, and our children are living in tents.
“They’re lying in the dirt. We don’t have any shelter for the future. Everything we had is destroyed.”
Mohammad Salem injured his foot and is deeply worried about the months ahead
The Taliban forbids physical contact between men and women who are not family members, even in emergencies. That raised fears some women would be left without help.
However, the villagers we spoke to praised the rescue efforts and said female aid workers were able to reach them.
But what hangs over every community in these deep and now scarred valleys is the fear of the hardships to come and the realisation that their communities, their families, have been changed forever.
There is a loud boom, the noise of an explosion, followed by the rat-a-tat of automatic gunfire.
Another explosion, more distant. A sign on the wall warns people against snipers. And all around us is the rubble of destruction.
Welcome to Tel al-Hawa, once one of the most affluent suburbs of Gaza City. Now wrecked, uninhabitable and destroyed.
Like so much of Gaza – and like all the places we drove through to get here – it is a wasteland. Buildings reduced to rubble, with a layer of dust covering everything.
The only people you see are Israeli soldiers.
Throughout my day in Gaza, I didn’t see a single Gazan.
Partly that’s because we were there with the Israeli military, who controlled all our movements. Partly it’s because places like this have been so completely wrecked that everyone has fled.
I came here on Friday afternoon, along with journalists from a variety of media outlets from around the world.
There was no sign that, a few hours later, Hamas would offer a response to the Trump peace plan, nor that there would be a surge of global optimism.
Because here, amid the dust and debris, everything is bleak and threatening. Everywhere you look there is devastation. The filaments of war are everywhere.
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The soundscape is military. There are the roars of explosions, bursts of gunfire, the buzz of drones, the clatter of troops crunching through rubble and the roar of the engines that power tanks and armoured personnel carriers (APCs).
But every now and then there is silence. No birdsong, no gentle chatter. Nothing. It is unsettling.
IDF soldiers escort our correspondent throughout the city
The proof that people ever lived here is strewn around, as if a plane has crashed. There are scraps of everyday life – a milk carton, a phone cable, a shoe. A red toy car.
And curiously, amid all this horror, there is a bouquet of red roses. They are artificial, of course, but they lie in the street, dusty and forgotten. What were they for? A party, a wedding? Or just to brighten up a home that has now been blown away.
Booby traps, snipers on roofs
We spoke to Israeli military officials, who told us they had only recently taken control of this area.
The picture they paint of Hamas fighters is that of a depleted fighting force, reduced to maybe 2,000 people, including young and inexperienced conscripts.
Their tactics are those of a guerrilla force – snipers on roofs, booby traps, improvised explosive devices.
“But it can work. We had a soldier killed very near here a couple of weeks ago. And Hamas – they are brave,” he says.
“It is hard for us to have fought for two years, but it is harder for Hamas than us. We are strong enough to finish this war, bring the hostages back, eliminate Hamas and ensure 7 October can never happen again.”
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The military has occupied a building that was once either a large house or perhaps a series of apartments. Some of the rooms are simply forgotten, others are used by the IDF for offices, meals or meetings.
At the top of the building is a room with a large picture window. It looks out towards the Jordanian Hospital – the only building here, and I think the only building I saw throughout my visit that is unscathed.
The view of Gaza City from inside an armoured personnel carrier
The soldiers show us drone footage from inside the hospital campus, revealing a tunnel opening. Twenty metres below the ground, they say, was a Hamas workshop for designing and building missiles and rockets.
“It’s very significant,” one of the soldiers tells me, his face obscured by a balaclava. “The weapons manufactured here are being fired at our civilians. To find it here, under the compound with the hospital, shows how Hamas is using civilians to hide behind.
“We cannot attack that,” – he points at the hospital – “we don’t want to hurt the people there. It’s very significant to us as Israelis and also to the citizens of Gaza, who are being used by Hamas.”
An IDF official told me the hospital had also been used to “accommodate” between 50 and 80 Hamas fighters, and said Jordanian Hospital officials “definitely knew” about these people.
The destroyed skyline and the hospital
We later put these allegations to a Jordanian official source, who described the hospital’s work as “purely a humanitarian mission” that “has been providing treatment for tens of thousands of Gazans since 2009”.
“Jordan has no knowledge of the presence of tunnels under the location of the Tel al-Hawa hospital. Gaza is riddled with tunnels.
“There was no access into the hospital from any underground tunnels. Over its 16 years of operation, no fighters were present within the hospital’s premises.”
There are many stories of Israeli reserve soldiers saying they are both weary and wary, reluctant to sign up for another tour of duty.
Looking out over the hellish landscape of this shattered town, I could understand why some would think twice before rushing back.
Yet Richard Hecht did. Formerly the spokesperson for the IDF, Hecht, whose family moved from Glasgow to Israel when he was a boy, had been called at 11pm the previous evening and asked to accompany us.
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We talked, with dust billowing around us at a military compound on the outskirts of Gaza City.
“I hope this war comes to an end, and it would stop in a matter of moments if Hamas returned our hostages,” he told me.
“But the IDF is very determined – we want our hostages back. We are doing everything we can because we have to fight Hamas. What alternative do we have? We need to obliterate this group.”
Adam Parsons sees first hand the destruction around Gaza City
I suggest to him Israel’s military action now looks wildly disproportionate, especially bearing in mind they believe Hamas to now have only a couple of thousand fighters.
More than 65,000 people have been killed in Gaza, half of them women and children. And many, including a UN commission, have claimed this is genocide.
Hecht bristles. “That is an atrocious thing to say. Genocide has intent, it entails intent. It is an atrocious accusation and I cannot connect it. We are fighting Hamas. We are not fighting Palestinians.”
We have to leave. This town is regarded as an active conflict zone, and the regular chorus of gunfire and explosions testifies to that.
We clamber back into the APC, crewed by two men in their early 20s. One drives, the other stands up, using a hatch to access a machine gun based on the roof. He beckons me up to see the view.
Around us, a line of military vehicles. A digger comes into view, and then a plume of dust flies up as the APC reverses. I look down and see hundreds of spent casings around the machine gun. I point at them, and he nods slowly.
We drive away. The dust envelopes the vehicles again, and we leave Gaza City behind us.
As we head back towards the border, to the gates that divide a war zone from Israeli towns and kibbutzim, we see a huge plume of smoke rising a mile or two away.
In Gaza, the concept of peace feels almost unthinkable.
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