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New UK Prime Minister Liz Truss rewarded close allies Therese Coffey and Kwasi Kwarteng with top Cabinet jobs as she culled a number of prominent Rishi Sunak supporters during a major reshuffle of the government.
The new PM appointed Kwarteng as chancellor and Coffey as deputy prime minister and health secretary, as she made James Cleverly the foreign secretary on Tuesday.
Former attorney general Suella Braverman was appointed home secretary, replacing Priti Patel after she pre-emptively resigned.
The appointments mean that for the first time in history none of the great offices of state are held by white men.
First Truss despatched former deputy PM Dominic Raab and cabinet colleagues Grant Shapps, George Eustice and Steve Barclay to the backbenches after they supported her rival in the Tory leadership contest.
Coffey, the former work & pensions secretary who is regarded as the prime minister's closest friend in Westminster, replaced Raab as the second in command after he described Truss's tax plans as an ‘electoral suicide note’.
And she took on Barclay's health brief after he too came out in support for Sunak, the former chancellor who Truss beat in a poll of Tory members.
Kwarteng, a long-term ally of Truss's whose appointment to No 11 had been widely expected, replaces Nadhim Zahawi in the Treasury.
Ben Wallace will continue in the role of defence secretary, as he plays a vital role in supporting Volodymyr Zelensky in Ukraine's fight against Vladimir Putin's invasion.
Former transport minister Wendy Morton will attend Cabinet as chief whip, making her responsible for party discipline in the Commons.
Truss began the sackings in her House of Commons office shortly after making her first speech outside Downing Street as she formally replaced Boris Johnson.
She then headed to No 10 to remake the top of the government in her own image.
Raab, who was justice secretary as well as second in command to Johnson, had not expected to continue his run in government, having been a vocal critic of Truss.
The MP for Esher & Walton said: ‘I look forward to supporting the government from the backbenches.’
Shapps also tweeted his own exit as transport secretary but did not make the same remarks of support for the new Tory leader.
Instead, the Welwyn Hatfield MP said he looks forward to being ‘a strong, independent voice on the backbenches’.
Eustice pledged to ‘offer scrutiny’ from the backbenches as the Camborne & Redruth MP was sacked as environment secretary.
Shailesh Vara, another Sunak backer, was out as Northern Ireland secretary, with the North West Cambridgeshire MP saying he would support the government from the backbenches.
Barclay, the MP for North East Cambridgeshire who had been health secretary for Johnson's final months in office, wished Truss ‘every success for the future’.
Patel, who did not endorse any candidate, announced her departure on Monday before Truss even took office after her Home Office job was publicly linked with Braverman.
Johnny Mercer, who did not say who he was backing in the race, said he was ‘disappointed’ to be sacked as veterans' affairs minister, but accepted the prime minister is ‘entitled to reward her supporters’.
The Plymouth Moor View MP also suggested he could quit the Commons, saying: ‘I have to accept that I will never possess the qualities required for enduring success in politics as it stands, and to be fair to my wonderful family, I must consider my future.’
Greg Clark said he was out as levelling up secretary, a role he was appointed to as Johnson prepared to announce his own resignation after a series of scandals.
Andrew Stephenson, who remained publicly neutral during the contest as Conservative Party chairman, also said he was leaving the role.
Earlier, Nadine Dorries, who had backed Truss, confirmed that she had been asked to stay on as culture secretary but had decided that she also would be returning to the backbenches.
Sunak, the former chancellor whose resignation helped trigger the downfall of Johnson, has also made clear he does not expect to be offered a new job.
His supporters, however, have been urging Truss to appoint an ‘inclusive’ Cabinet and not simply surround herself with loyalists in the way that Johnson was accused of doing.
source: PA
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