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Rishi Sunak has assembled a cabinet that Downing Street says “reflects a united party” after the PM promised to form a government of “all the talents”.

The reshuffle by the UK’s third leader this year has changed the gender and ethnicity balance of the cabinet – with some departing ministers having a very short tenure in key positions.

Here are some of the key numbers behind the cabinet reshuffle.

An older cabinet

The average age of cabinet ministers is 52, up from 49 under Liz Truss.

At 42, Rishi Sunak is one of the youngest members of his own cabinet – with only two other ministers the same age: Home Secretary Suella Braverman and International Trade Secretary Kemi Badenoch.

Culture Secretary Michelle Donelan is the youngest at 38 years old.

Some 15 of the 21 full-time cabinet ministers are aged 50 or over.

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Kemi Badenoch arriving in Downing Street, London after Rishi Sunak has been appointed as Prime Minister. Picture date: Tuesday October 25, 2022.
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Kemi Badenoch arrives in Downing Street after being appointed to the cabinet

22% of those able to attend cabinet meetings are women

The cabinet has become less diverse, both in terms of gender and ethnicity.

In Mr Sunak’s government, 22% of all people able to attend cabinet meetings are women.

This is down from 32% at the start of Ms Truss’s premiership, which was the highest proportion ever for a prime minister’s first cabinet.

It is also lower than the equivalent figure for Boris Johnson (24%) and Theresa May (30%).

Five of the 31 people able to attend Mr Sunak’s cabinet are non-white, including the prime minister.

This is down from seven out of 31 in Liz Truss’s initial top team.

Shortest-serving home secretary replaced after six days

Grant Shapps goes into the history books as the shortest-serving home secretary in modern political history.

Mr Shapps was given the job by former prime minister Ms Truss on 19 October and lasted just six days until being replaced by Suella Braverman on 25 October.

It represents a very swift return to the role of home secretary for Ms Braverman. She had held the post directly before Mr Shapps – but resigned after just 43 days after breaching the ministerial code.

She is currently the second-shortest serving home secretary since 1900.

If she manages to stay in the job for another 19 days, she will become the third shortest-serving person to hold the role.

Grant Shapps was home secretary for less than a week. Pic: AP
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Grant Shapps was home secretary for less than a week. Pic: AP

The first female deputy prime minister was in the role for just 49 days

Dominic Raab is returning to the deputy prime minister post he held from September 2021 to September 2022.

This means Therese Coffey’s spell as the first woman to formally hold the role of deputy prime minister lasted just 49 days.

Only three other people have ever been officially appointed to the role: Conservative politician Michael Heseltine (1995 to 1997), Labour’s John Prescott (1997 to 2007) and the Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg (2010 to 2015).

Ten education secretaries in 12 years

Gillian Keegan has become the UK’s 10th education secretary in 12 years.

The turnover has been so great that five separate people have held the job of education secretary in the last 12 months.

Read more:
Rishi Sunak prepares for first PMQs in top job
Analysis: Sunak will need all the help he can get from cabinet
Here’s who’s in and who’s out

Gillian Keegan is the new education secretary
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Gillian Keegan is the new education secretary

Nine work and pensions secretaries since 2010

New Work and Pensions Secretary Mel Stride follows in the footsteps of Chloe Smith (2022), Therese Coffey (2019-2022), Amber Rudd (2018-19), Esther McVey (2018), David Gauke (2017-18), Damian Green (2016-17), Stephen Crabb (2016) and Iain Duncan Smith (2010-16).

Gove returning to cabinet after 111 days

Michael Gove is returning to the cabinet – 111 days after he was sacked by Boris Johnson.

Mr Gove has now held six different cabinet posts since 2010: education secretary, chief whip, justice secretary, environment secretary, chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, and levelling up secretary.

Seven transport secretaries in 12 years

Mark Harper is the seventh transport secretary since 2010 and the 14th politician to have cabinet-level responsibility for transport since 1997.

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Teenage girl killed on M5 in Somerset after getting out of police car named

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Teenage girl killed on M5 in Somerset after getting out of police car named

A teenage girl who was killed after getting out of a police car on the M5 in Somerset has been named.

Tamzin Hall, 17 and from Wellington, was hit by a vehicle that was travelling southbound between junction 24 for Bridgwater and junction 25 for Taunton shortly after 11pm on Monday.

She had exited a police vehicle that had stopped on the northbound side of the motorway while transporting her.

A mandatory referral was made to the Independent Office for Police Conduct, which is now carrying out its own investigation into what happened.

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Avon and Somerset Police said: “Our thoughts and sympathies go out to Tamzin’s family for their devastating loss.

“A specially-trained family liaison officer remains in contact with them to keep them updated and to provide support.

“The family have asked for privacy at this difficult time.”

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The police watchdog, the IOPC, has been asked to investigate.

In a statement, director David Ford, said: “This was a truly tragic incident and my thoughts are with Tamzin’s family and friends and everyone affected by the events of that evening.

“We are contacting her family to express our sympathies, explain our role, and set out how our investigation will progress. We will keep them fully updated as our investigation continues.”

Paramedics attended the motorway within minutes of the girl being hit but she was pronounced dead at the scene.

The motorway was closed in both directions while investigations took place. It was fully reopened shortly after 11am on Tuesday, Nationals Highways said.

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Mohamed al Fayed’s brother Salah also abused women, say female Harrods employees

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Mohamed al Fayed's brother Salah also abused women, say female Harrods employees

A survivors group advocating for women allegedly assaulted by Mohamed al Fayed has said it is “grateful another abuser has been unmasked”, after allegations his brother Salah also participated in the abuse.

Justice for Harrods Survivors says it has “credible evidence” suggesting the sexual abuse allegedly perpetrated at Harrods and the billionaire’s properties “was not limited to Mr al Fayed himself”.

The group’s statement comes after three women told BBC News they were sexually assaulted by al Fayed’s brother, Salah.

One woman said she was raped by Mohamed al Fayed while working at Harrods.

Helen, who has waived her right to anonymity, said she then took a job working for his brother as an escape. She alleges she was drugged and sexually assaulted while working at Salah’s home on Park Lane, London.

Two other women have told the BBC they were taken to Monaco and the South of France, where Salah sexually abused them.

Mohamed al Fayed. Pic: AP
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Mohamed al Fayed. Pic: AP

The Justice for Harrod Survivors representatives said: “We are proud to support the survivors of Salah Fayed’s abuse and are committed to achieving justice for them, no matter what it takes.”

The group added it “looks forward to the others on whom we have credible evidence – whether abusers themselves or enablers facilitating that abuse – being exposed in due course”.

More from Sky News:
Ex-Fulham captain makes Al Fayed allegation
Timeline of accusations against ex-Harrods boss

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Salah was one of the three Fayed brothers who co-owned Harrods.

The business, which was sold to Qatar Holdings when Mohamed al Fayed retired in 2010, has said it “supports the bravery of these women in coming forward”.

A statement issued by the famous store on Thursday evening continued: “We encourage these survivors to come forward and make their claims to the Harrods scheme, where they can apply for compensation, as well as support from a counselling perspective and through an independent survivor advocate.

“We also hope that they are looking at every appropriate avenue to them in their pursuit of justice, whether that be Harrods, the police or the Fayed family and estate.”

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Bianca Gascoigne speaks about Al Fayed abuse

The Justice for Harrods Survivors group previously said more than 400 people had contacted them regarding accusations about Mohamed al Fayed, who died last year.

One of those alleged to have been abused is Bianca Gascoigne, the daughter of former England player Paul.

Speaking to Sky News in October, Gascoigne said she was groomed and sexually assaulted by al Fayed when she worked at Harrods as a teenager.

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Wes Streeting ‘crossed the line’ by opposing assisted dying in public, says Labour peer Harriet Harman

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Wes Streeting 'crossed the line' by opposing assisted dying in public, says Labour peer Harriet Harman

Wes Streeting “crossed the line” by opposing assisted dying in public and the argument shouldn’t “come down to resources”, a Labour peer has said.

Speaking on Sky News’ Electoral Dysfunction podcast, Baroness Harriet Harman criticised the health secretary for revealing how he is going to vote on the matter when it comes before parliament later this month.

MPs are being given a free vote, meaning they can side with their conscience and not party lines, so the government is supposed to be staying neutral.

But Mr Streeting has made clear he will vote against legalising assisted dying, citing concerns end-of-life care is not good enough for people to make an informed choice, and that some could feel pressured into the decision to save the NHS money.

He has also ordered a review into the potential costs of changing the law, warning it could come at the expense of other NHS services if implemented.

Baroness Harman said Mr Streeting has “crossed the line in two ways”.

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“He should not have said how he was going to vote, because that breaches neutrality and sends a signal,” she said.

“And secondly… he’s said the problem is that it will cost money to bring in an assisted dying measure, and therefore he will have to cut other services.

“But paradoxically, he also said it would be a slippery slope because people will be forced to bring about their own death in order to save the NHS money. Well, it can’t be doing both things.

“It can’t be both costing the NHS money and saving the NHS money.”

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Review into assisted dying costs

Baroness Harman said the argument “should not come down to resources” as it is a “huge moral issue” affecting “only a tiny number of people”.

She added that people should not mistake Mr Streeting for being “a kind of proxy for Keir Starmer”.

“The government is genuinely neutral and all of those backbenchers, they can vote whichever way they want,” she added.

Read more on this story:
‘Fix care before assisted dying legislation’
Why assisted dying is controversial – and where it’s already legal

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has previously expressed support for assisted dying, but it is not clear how he intends to vote on the issue or if he will make his decision public ahead of time.

The cabinet has varying views on the topic, with the likes of Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood siding with Mr Streeting in her opposition but Energy Secretary Ed Miliband being for it.

Britain's Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero Ed Miliband walks on Downing Street on the day of the budget announcement, in London, Britain October 30, 2024. REUTERS/Maja Smiejkowska
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Energy Security and Net Zero Secretary Ed Miliband is said to support the bill. Pic: Reuters

Shabana Mahmood arrives 10 Downing Street.
Pic: Reuters
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Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood has concerns. Pic: Reuters

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The Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill is being championed by Labour backbencher Kim Leadbeater, who wants to give people with six months left to live the choice to end their lives.

Under her proposals, two independent doctors must confirm a patient is eligible for assisted dying and a High Court judge must give their approval.

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Labour MP Kim Leadbeater discusses End of Life Bill

The bill will also include punishments of up to 14 years in prison for those who break the law, including coercing someone into ending their own life.

MPs will debate and vote on the legislation on 29 November, in what will be the first Commons vote on assisted dying since 2015, when the proposal was defeated.

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