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Rishi Sunak has appointed his cabinet after being asked by the King to form a new government.

The new prime minister 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?

Jeremy Hunt

Jeremy Hunt is keeping his job as chancellor, having reversed the majority of Liz Truss’s mini-budget which Mr Sunak warned would be detrimental to the economy just over a week ago.

Mr Hunt is seen as a steady hand, so keeping him 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 Monday.

His appointment could also be seen as political, as Mr Hunt had backed Mr Sunak in the last two leadership races.

James Cleverly foreign secretary

James Cleverly has been reappointed as 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 after months of divisive politics within the Conservative Party.

When Ms Truss resigned, Mr Cleverly initially came out in support of Boris Johnson’s return to the top job.

But after he gave up on his comeback, Mr Cleverly voiced support for Mr Sunak, saying he was the most experienced candidate for the job.

Ben Wallace

Although he backed Boris Johnson’s leadership bid, Ben Wallace has also kept his job as defence secretary.

He was one of the few cabinet secretaries to keep their job during the Johnson and Truss premierships.

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 honoured.

Suella Braverman

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 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 boats crossing the Channel, and previously said it was her “dream” to see Rwanda deportation flights take off.

She is from the right wing of the partyand 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 on board, 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 secretarywas when she blamed protest disruption on the “tofu-eating wokerati”.

The 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

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 in the race.

Sources close to her said that she had been hoping to be appointed as foreign secretary – so her appointment may come as a blow.

The main role of a Commons Leader is to organise government business.

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

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 them under Boris Johnson.

When the former prime minister was in hospital with Covid it was Mr Raab who ran the country.

However, he was demoted from foreign secretary to justice secretary last September following criticism of his handling the withdrawal from Afghanistan.

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 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

Grant Shapps, who was drafted in to replace Ms Braverman as home secretary six days ago, has been appointed as business and energy secretary.

The Sunak ally has experience in cabinet, having served as transport secretary under Boris Johnson.

Michael Gove

Meanwhile, Michael Gove has been given his old job of 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 about criticising the government from the backbenches.

Steve Barclay

Steve Barclay has been appointed health secretary taking over from Therese Coffey.

He had been Brexit secretary under Theresa May and served as health secretary over the summer in Mr Johnson’s interim cabinet.

Therese Coffey

Ms Coffey, a friend and ally of Liz Truss who was deputy prime minister and health secretary until today, has been appointed environment secretary.

Gillian Keegan becomes secretary of state for education and 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 Mr Johnson’s’ government.

She was replaced by James Cleverly, now foreign secretary, and Kit Malthouse, who left his government role earlier today.

This is Ms Keegan’s first cabinet position.

Under Mr Johnson, she was the parliamentary under-secretary for apprenticeships and skills. She was then care and mental health minister in the health department and Ms Truss made her parliamentary under-secretary for Africa.

Kemi Badenoch

Kemi Badenoch, a former leadership candidate, has been reappointed as international trade secretary.

She is also minister for women and equalities.

Ms Badenoch, the MP for Saffron Walden, was first given the cabinet post by Liz Truss.

Simon Hart

Simon Hart has been appointed chief whip.

He is a popular MP in the party and a former Welsh secretary, who 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 on certain issues.

Mel Stride

Mel Stride has been promoted into the cabinet as work and pensions secretary. It is perhaps unsurprising after running Rishi Sunak’s campaign in the Tory leadership contest over the summer.

Mr Stride was instrumental in calling for an Office of Budget Responsibility forecast to go alongside Ms Truss’s spending plans after the turmoil caused by her mini-budget, and has called for benefits to rise in line with inflation.

Nadhim Zahawi

Nadhim Zahawi has been appointed Conservative Party chairman.

He was briefly chancellor under Boris Johnson after Mr Sunak resigned and famously called on Mr Johnson 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.

Michelle Donelan

Michelle Donelan, a loyal Sunak supporter, has kept her job as secretary for digital, culture, media and sport.

The Chippenham MP was given the job by Ms Truss after taking over from Nadine Dorries, who Mr Johnson appointed.

She has previously signalled she could reverse Ms Dorries’s plan to privatise Channel 4, saying the case was being “re-examined”.

Ms Donelan, who became an MP alongside Mr Sunak in 2015, was education secretary for two days under MrJohnson.

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 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

Chris Heaton-Harris has been reappointed as Northern Ireland secretary.

He was first appointed to this role by Ms Truss at the start of September.

He has one of the more 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.

Alister Jack

Alister Jack is keeping his job as Scotland secretary, a post he has held since July 2019.

David TC Davies

David TC Davies, the Wales minister since 2019, has been promoted to Wales secretary, taking over from Robert Buckland who resigned this morning

Mr Davies, the MP for Monmouth since 2005, chaired the Welsh Affairs Committee from 2010 to 2019.

Oliver Dowden

Mr Sunak’s closest political friend Oliver Dowden becomes Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster.

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.

Earlier this year he resigned as party chairman after a disastrous double by-election loss under Mr Johnson.

Former whip Mark Harper’s support has been rewarded with the role of transport secretary.

He replaces Anne-Marie Trevelyan who backed Mr Johnson in the race a few days ago.

Another of Mr Sunak’s allies, John Glen, becomes chief secretary to the Treasury.

Work and pensions minister Victoria Prentis takes up the role of attorney general, and former home office minister Jeremy Quin becomes paymaster general.

Tom Tugendhat has been re-appointed as security minister and Johnny Mercer will return to the role of veterans’ affairs minister.

Sir Gavin Williamson returns to government as a minister without portfolio. He was kicked out of government in 2019 when serving as defence secretary over a National Security Council leak and was sacked as education secretary in 2021 for his handling of the coronavirus pandemic’s impact on schools.

Another to return to cabinet is the former housing secretary Robert Jenrick who becomes minister for immigration.

Who’s out:

Before Mr Sunak announced key posts, a number of Ms Truss’s cabinet announced they were leaving government.

Jacob Rees-Mogg

Jacob Rees-Mogg kicked off the resignations on Tuesday, leaving his post as business secretary.

A close ally of both Mr Johnson and Ms Truss, he had earlier said he was not expecting to serve in Mr Sunak’s cabinet.

Mr Rees-Mogg called Mr Sunak a “socialist” during the summer’s Conservative Party leadership race because he refused to commit to the same level of tax cuts as Ms Truss, although 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

Brandon Lewis, resigned as justice secretary, saying Mr Sunak has his “support from the backbenches”.

“Our party is at a crossroads,” he said in his resignation letter to the prime minister, adding that it is time to “reunite and rebuild”.

Robert Buckland

Robert Buckland is out as Welsh secretary, and wrote on Twitter that he was leaving “at my request”.

Mr Buckland initially supported Mr Sunak in the summer, but swapped to Ms Truss.

Jake Berry

Jake Berry said it was an “honour” to serve as Conservative Party chairman but “all good things must come to an end”.

Kit Malthouse

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.”

Chloe Smith

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 increase benefits in line with inflation.

Ranil Jayawardena

Ranil Jayawardena is also out as environment secretary.

He wrote to Mr 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”.

Simon Clarke

The levelling-up Secretary Simon Clarke 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.”

Wendy Morton

The 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.

Vicky Ford

Foreign minister Vicky Ford has also left the government. She said “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

Alok Sharma has left as minister of state at the cabinet office. He will remain COP26 president and will negotiate on behalf of the UK at COP27.

The Green MP Caroline Lucas condemned his departure from the cabinet table, saying it was an “utterly shameful” move “just weeks before one of the most important global climate summits in a generation at #COP27 in Egypt”.

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At least 10 dead after fire rips through retirement home in Spain

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At least 10 dead after fire rips through retirement home in Spain

At least 10 people have been killed after a fire broke out at a retirement home in northern Spain in the early hours of this morning, officials have said.

A further two people were seriously injured in the blaze at the residence in the town of Villafranca de Ebro in Zaragoza, according to the Spanish news website Diario Sur.

Jardines de Villafranca nursing home following the fire.
Pic: AP
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Two people remain in a critical condition following the blaze. Pic: AP

They remain in a critical condition, while several others received treatment for smoke inhalation.

Firefighters were alerted to the blaze at the residence – the Jardines de Villafranca – at 5am (4am UK time) on Friday.

Residents are moved out of the nursing home following the fire.
Pic: AP
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Several residents were treated for smoke inhalation. Pic: AP

Those who were killed in the fire died from smoke inhalation, Spanish newspaper Heraldo reported.

The residence is home to 82 elderly residents.

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The blaze started in one of the rooms, Fernando Beltran, the national government’s top official in the region, told reporters.

All of the victims were elderly residents, he added.

Relatives waiting for news outside the nursing home where least 10 people have died in a fire in Zaragoza, Spain.
Pic: AP
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Relatives wait for news outside the care home. Pic: AP

Fire crews, paramedics and police officers remain on site, said a spokesperson for the regional government of Aragon who confirmed the fatalities.

It took firefighters several hours to extinguish the blaze, they said.

The cause of the fire is unknown and is being investigated.

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COP29: UN climate summits ‘no longer fit for purpose’, warn leading figures

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COP29: UN climate summits 'no longer fit for purpose', warn leading figures

UN climate talks are “no longer fit for purpose” and should only be hosted by countries who are trying to give up fossil fuels, veterans of the process have said.

An open letter to the United Nations, signed by former UN chief Ban Ki-moon, made a dramatic intervention in the 29th COP climate summit, under way in Baku, Azerbaijan.

Frustration over petrostate hosts – following last year’s summit in UAE – as well as the influence of fossil fuel lobbyists, prohibitive costs, and slow progress have been mounting in recent years.

The letter acknowledges the strides COPs have made on ramping up climate policies.

“But it is now clear that the COP is no longer fit for purpose,” the authors said.

“Its current structure simply cannot deliver the change at exponential speed and scale, which is essential to ensure a safe climate landing for humanity.”

The letter’s 22 signatories also include former Ireland President Mary Robinson and Christiana Figueres, former head of the UN climate body (UNFCCC) that runs the annual COP summits.

It called for the process to be streamlined and for countries to be held accountable for their promises.

Sky News analysis has found only “marginal” progress has been made since the “historic” pledge from COP28 last year to transition away from fossil fuels.

Eric Njuguna, of Kenya, participates in a demonstration against fossil fuels at the COP29 U.N. Climate Summit, Friday, Nov. 15, 2024, in Baku, Azerbaijan. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)
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Pic: AP Photo/Peter Dejong

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The letter also called for “strict eligibility criteria” for host countries to exclude those “who do not support the phase out/transition away from fossil energy”.

This year’s host country, petrostate Azerbaijan, has been engulfed in controversy.

Its authoritarian president Ilham Aliyev used his opening address to criticise western hypocrisy and praise oil and gas as a “gift” from God. His criticism of France, with whom relations have long been tense, drove the French minister to cancel a trip to the summit.

While the government and its COP team run separate operations, host countries are supposed to smooth over disagreements and find consensus between the almost 200 countries gathered.

COP presidencies are also nominating themselves to be climate leaders and throwing their own countries under the spotlight.

Azerbaijan is a small developing country that relies significantly on oil and gas revenues. But it has made slow progress on building out clean power – getting just 1.5% of its energy from clean sources – and led a harsh crackdown on critics in the run up to the COP.

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Azerbaijan team ‘optimistic’ about talks

In an interview with Sky News on Sunday, its lead negotiator Yalchin Rafiyev was unable to say whether Azerbaijan preferred to extract all its oil and gas or seek another, cleaner economic pathway – hard though that would be.

In a news conference yesterday, Mr Rafiyev said the president had been “quite clear” and he would not comment further.

“We have opened our doors to everybody,” he added.

Some diplomats here have hinted that Azerbaijan’s presidency team mean well but might be a little out of their depth. They have never been out in front at previous COPs, but they also only had a year to prepare for their turn hosting the mighty summit.

“My sense of this is that they’re a little underprepared, a little overwhelmed and a little bit short,” said one, speaking anonymously, as is customary for diplomats trying to maintain good relations.

“But I’m not sure that that’s politics. It might just be bandwidth and preparation and things like that.”

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Different regions in the world take turns to host a COP. This year it was up to Eastern Europe, but the selection process took longer than usual due to tensions over Russia’s war in Ukraine and between Azerbaijan and rival Armenia.

Achim Steiner of the UN Development Programme, called it “troubling” that some countries face questions over their host roles.

“Are there countries that are by definition good hosts and others are bad hosts?” he asked.

“In the United Nations, we maintain the principle of every nation, first of all, should have a right to be heard.

“Labels are not always the fairest way of describing a nation. Some of the largest oil producers have hosted this COP in the past, and seemingly this seemed to be a perfectly acceptable phenomenon.”

COP stands for “conference of the parties” and refers to countries (“parties”) who have signed the underlying climate treaty.

Azerbaijan’s COP29 team and the UN’s climate body have been contacted with a request to comment.

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Body pulled from mine after police cut off supplies to ‘smoke out’ thousands of illegal miners

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Body pulled from mine after police cut off supplies to 'smoke out' thousands of illegal miners

A body has been recovered from a South African mine after police cut off basic supplies in an effort to force around 4,000 illegal miners to resurface.

The body has emerged from the closed gold mine in the northwest town of Stilfontein a day after South Africa’s government said it would not help the illegal miners.

Around 20 people have surfaced from the mineshaft this week as police wait nearby to arrest all those appearing from underground.

It comes a day after a cabinet minister said the government was trying to “smoke them [the miners] out”.

The move is part of the police’s “Close the Hole” operation, whereby officers cut off supplies of food, water and other basic necessities to get those who have entered illegally to come out.

Local reports suggest the supply routes were cut off at the mine around two months ago, with relatives of the miners seen in the area as the stand-off continues.

Relatives of miners and community members wait at the 
 mine shaft. 
Pic: AP
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Relatives of miners and community members wait at the mine shaft. Pic: AP

A decomposed body was brought up on Thursday, with pathologists on the scene, police spokesperson Athlenda Mathe said.

It comes after South African cabinet minister Khumbudzo Ntshavheni told reporters on Wednesday that the government would not send any help to the illegal miners, known in the country as zama zamas, because they are involved in a criminal act.

“We are not sending help to criminals. We are going to smoke them out. They will come out. Criminals are not to be helped; criminals are to be prosecuted. We didn’t send them there,” Ms Ntshavheni said.

An aerial view of a mine shaft where an estimated 4000 illegal miners are refusing to leave in Stilfontein, South Africa,.
Pic: AP
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An aerial view of a mineshaft. Pic: AP

Senior police and defence officials are expected to visit the area on Friday to “reinforce the government’s commitment to bringing this operation to a safe and lawful conclusion”, according to a media advisory from the police.

In the last few weeks, over 1,000 miners have surfaced at various mines in South Africa’s North West province, where police have cut off supplies.

Many of the miners were reported to be weak, hungry and sickly after going for weeks without basic supplies.

Illegal mining remains common in South Africa’s old gold-mining areas, with miners going into closed shafts to dig for any possible remaining deposits.

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Relatives of miners and community members wait at a mine shaft where the estimated 4000 illegal miners  are refusing to leave.
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Relatives of miners and community members wait near the mine shaft. Pic: AP

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The illegal miners are often from neighbouring countries, and police say the illegal operations involve larger syndicates that employ the miners.

Their presence in closed mines has also created problems with nearby communities, which complain that the illegal miners commit crimes ranging from robberies to rape.

Illegal mining groups are known to be heavily armed and disputes between rival groups sometimes result in fatal confrontations.

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