Sunak’s reshuffle: Shapps, Badenoch, Hands and Donelan in new cabinet roles after Zahawi’s sacking
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has appointed Greg Hands, a former trade minister, as the chair of the Conservative party after Nadhim Zahawi was sacked last month.
The Department for Business, Energy, Industry and Strategy has also been broken up into two separate bodies.
Grant Shapps, the former Business Secretary has been appointed Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, fulfilling an earlier pledge of Rishi Sunak to create a stand-alone department for the industry.
Michelle Donelan has been moved from her role as Culture Secretary to a new role in charge of Science, Innovation and Technology.
Lucy Frazer will replace Donelan at the helm of the culture department, which no longer has digital within its remit.
Kemi Badenoch, the equalities minister, is now the Secretary of State for Business and Trade.
Lee Anderson, MP for Ashfield, has been appointed deputy chairman of the Conservative Party.
Anderson recently made headlines after he responded to a question in the Commons about the welfare of missing migrant children by saying “they shouldn’t have come here illegally”.
Other junior ministerial appointments announced so far are:
- Graham Stuart, Department for Energy Security and Net Zero;
- George Freeman, Department for Science, Innovation and Technology;
- Nigel Huddleston, Department for Business and Trade;
- Nusrat Ghani, jointly Department for Business and Trade and the Cabinet Office;
- Andrew Bowie, Department for Energy Security and Net Zero;
- Paul Scully, Department for Science, Innovation and Technology;
- Kevin Hollinrake, Department for Business and Trade;
- Stuart Andrew, jointly in the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, and in the Department for Business and Trade as Minister for Equalities;
- Maria Caulfield, Minister for Women in the Department for Business and Trade, in addition to her current role in the Department of Health and Social Care.
Zahawi was sacked as Tory party chief after a scandal surrounding payment of £5m to HMRC, including a penalty to the taxman, and an investigation by Sunak’s ethics adviser.
The prime minister said the inquiry found there had been a “serious breach” of the ministerial code of conduct.
Sunak pledged to create a department dedicated to energy resilience in August last year, during the Conservative leadership race.
Dominic Raab, justice secretary, who is also currently under investigation for bullying allegations, is expected to stay in his job, at least until the conclusion of any report.
Who is Lucy Frazer?
The new culture secretary and MP for South East Cambridgeshire was elected in 2015.
She studied at Cambridge University, where she met her husband and prior to becoming an MP practised as a barrister and was appointed Queen’s Counsel in 2013.
Frazer has previously held government positions as solicitor general, prisons and probations minister, justice minister, and financial secretary to the Treasury.
Who is Michelle Donelan?
Donelan previously served as culture, digital, media and sport secretary, until her appointment to lead on science, innovation and technology.
The MP for Chippenham previously worked in media and communications before being elected in 2015. She attended state school and was the first in her family to go to university.
She has also been a government whip, children and families minister, universities minister and education minister and says she is “truly passionate” about skills and opportunities.
Who is Grant Shapps?
Former transport minister Shapps was elected in Welwyn Hatfield in 2005.
Before entering politics he studied at Manchester University and founded a printing company. He also holds a pilot’s licence.
Shapps has held government posts including minister for housing, Conservative Party chairman, foreign office minister, transport secretary, business secretary and – briefly – home secretary, before being appointed the first energy security and net zero secretary.
Who is Greg Hands?
Previously a minister for international trade, Hands, MP for Chelsea and Fulham, has been appointed chairman of the Conservative Party.
Before he went into politics, Hands studied at Cambridge University and worked in finance.
He was first elected in 2005, has served as a deputy chief whip, chief secretary to the Treasury, trade policy minister, and climate change and energy minister. He speaks several European languages including Czech.