Boris Johnson to hold first meeting of new cabinet after reshuffle

Boris Johnson will gather his cabinet later for the first meeting of his top team since the prime minister’s reshuffle.

It comes after the PM completed a shake-up of his cabinet that saw a number of high-profile casualties.

Dominic Raab was replaced as foreign secretary by Liz Truss and moved to the roles of justice secretary and lord chancellor.

This has widely been viewed as a demotion in the wake of criticism for his handling of the Afghanistan crisis.

But Mr Raab was also named deputy prime minister, a move interpreted as an attempt by the PM to placate the former foreign secretary.

Downing Street has insisted that Mr Raab will continue playing an “important senior role” and his move had been “planned”.

Gavin Williamson was sacked as education secretary after a difficult 18 months amid the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on education.

He has been replaced by former vaccines minister Nadhim Zahawi.

Other casualties included Robert Buckland, removed as justice secretary, and Robert Jenrick, who is no longer housing secretary.

Michael Gove now occupies the latter role, while Oliver Dowden lost his job as culture secretary and was replaced by Nadine Dorries.

He is now Conservative Party co-chair after the previous incumbent Amanda Milling was ousted just weeks before the party’s annual conference.

Anne-Marie Trevelyan has returned to cabinet as international trade secretary, taking on the post formerly held by Ms Truss.

On Thursday Mr Johnson reshuffled the junior and middle-ranking government ministers, with a raft of appointments made.

Nick Gibb has been removed as schools minister after more than a decade holding the brief as both minister and shadow minister, being replaced by Robin Walker.

Penny Mordaunt, meanwhile, has been appointed minister of state at the Department for International Trade, while John Whittingdale is no longer a media minister.

Elsewhere, Greg Hands has moved from international trade minister to become a business minister and Kemi Badenoch is now both a housing minister and Foreign Office minister.

In a tweet after carrying out his cabinet reshuffle, the PM said his top team will “work tirelessly to unite and level up the whole country”.

He added: “We will build back better from the pandemic and deliver on your priorities. Now let’s get on with the job.”

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