UK Coalition - Cabinet Reshuffle
Chris Grayling and Jeremy Hunt rise as cabinet reshuffle takes shape
Rightwinger replaces Kenneth Clarke as justice secretary, while culture secretary is promoted to health post
David Cameron's new cabinet is taking shape as beaming ministers troop out of Downing Street to take up new roles and sacked ministers lick their wounds away from the cameras.
In one of the most significant moves, the rightwinger Chris Grayling was promoted to the cabinet to replace the "one nation" Tory Kenneth Clarke, who was demoted to the position of minister without portfolio with a roving economic brief.
The prime minister's original plans were disrupted when Iain Duncan Smith refused an offer to replace Clarke as justice secretary. Duncan Smith, who had indicated that he was only really interested in his work reforming welfare, thought about the move overnight. On Tuesday morning he told the prime minister he would like to stay put even though justice secretary is technically a more senior post.
Duncan Smith's approach contrasted with that of Andrew Lansley, who was demoted from the post of health secretary to become new leader of the Commons, replacing Sir George Young. Lansley had always said he would only ever serve in the cabinet as health secretary.
Jeremy Hunt replaces Lansley as health secretary. He described his appointment as a huge task and the biggest privilege of his life.
The prime minister summoned vulnerable ministers to his office at Westminster on Monday night. He demoted Lady Warsi from her position as Tory co-chair.
Britain's first Muslim full cabinet minister, who announced her demotion on Twitter, has been appointed senior minister of state at the Foreign Office and minister for faith and communities. She will attend cabinet. Warsi accepted the demotion in a telephone conversation with the prime minister on Tuesday morning after considering her position overnight. She tweeted: "It's been a privilege and an honour to serve my party as co-chairman, signing off as @ToryChairman, signing on @sayeedawarsi."
In other changes:
• Patrick McLoughlin is promoted from chief whip to be transport secretary, replacing Justine Greening, who is a strong opponent of a third runway at Heathrow. As a Derbyshire MP, McLoughlin has no known views on Heathrow. The prime minister would like McLoughlin, a former miner and one of the government's few genuine working-class members, to become one of the Tories' main faces on the television.
• Greening moves from transport to international development.
• Maria Miller is promoted from minister for disabled people to enter the cabinet as culture secretary. (She's also Minister for Women and Equalities, despite having consistently voted against equality legislation)
• Theresa Villiers, the transport minister, is promoted to replace Owen Paterson as Northern Ireland secretary.
• Paterson has been appointed secretary of state for environment, food and rural affairs, replacing Caroline Spelman, who has failed to recover from the fiasco of plans to sell off parts of the national forest.
• Grant Shapps, the housing minister, becomes Conservative party chairman and has been appointed minister without portfolio, attending the cabinet.
• Andrew Mitchell, the international development secretary, was appointed as chief whip on Monday to allow him to advise the prime minister on the reshuffle. Mitchell, known as "Thrasher", is a close ally of George Osborne.
• Cheryl Gillan, the Welsh secretary, will leave the cabinet, to be replaced by David Jones. In a sign of what was being dubbed the first Twitter reshuffle, Gillan removed the description of herself as secretary of state for Wales from her personal Twitter profile before the move was announced. Jones, the Wales Office minister and MP for Clwyd West, then tweeted: "Well I'll be darned." When the ITN newsreader Alastair Stewart noticed, Jones tweeted: "@alstewitn slip of the thumb. Was supposed to be a DM in reply to a friend."
The prime minister, who hopes to announce his new cabinet by Tuesday afternoon, is saying that only those who can play a decisive role in the next "delivery phase" of the government can expect to keep their places in the cabinet.
Clarke played down his demotion and said he had always agreed he would only do a "couple of years" running a major department. He said his new role would give him a focus on the economy and national security council.
"I never thought I would be back in the government in the first place," Clarke told the BBC. "At my age you do occasionally have to step down from a heavy departmental role before you suddenly realise you can no longer handle it."
The appointment of Mitchell, a whip under John Major, who had made no secret of his ambition to become chief whip, shows the influence of Osborne. "George gets his chief whip," said one senior Tory. Mitchell formed an alliance with the future chancellor while they ran rival campaigns during the 2005 Tory leadership contest.
Mitchell, who managed David Davis's campaign, invited Osborne to dinner at his country house during the contest.
Osborne, who was identified as the most unpopular member of the government in a recent Guardian/ICM poll, was booed when he awarded medals at the Olympic Stadium on Monday night. By contrast, Gordon Brown was cheered when he appeared at the Aquatics Centre.
One government source said: "The prime minister sees the second half of this parliament as the delivery phase. We want to have people who have a proven record in delivering in their departments."
David Laws, the former Liberal Democrat chief secretary to the Treasury, is set to return as an education minister. He may also have a roving policy brief across government. Jo Swinson, Nick Clegg's parliamentary private secretary, is also expected to be promoted.
Cameron, who knows reshuffles can turn into Westminster soap operas that often go wrong, hopes to ensure the main message of the week will be about delivery and fresh policies to promote economic growth. The prime minister and Nick Clegg are due to make a joint appearance to give details of bills to provide a basis for £40bn to guarantee infrastructure projects and £10bn for house building.
Cameron said: "As chief whip, Andrew will ensure strong support for our radical legislative programme, by working hard to win the argument in the Commons as well as playing a big role in the No 10 team. He will be invaluable as the government embarks on the next, vital phase of its mission to restore our economy to growth and reform our public services."
Mitchell said: "It has been a huge privilege to serve as part of a coalition which has radically overhauled the way aid is spent and brought a new rigour to British development policy. I am incredibly proud to be part of a government which is improving the lives of the world's most vulnerable people and helping the poorest countries stand on their own two feet. I leave [the Department for International Development] with great sadness but I very much look forward to the task ahead."
Source - The Guardian
OP: So we have a Justice Secretary who thinks it's okay for B&B owners to ban gay guests, an Equalities minister voting against equality legislation and Jeremy Hunt (aka the man who made a mess of the BSkyB bid) as Health Secretary. Oh and 3 out of 5 women in the cabinet demoted as opposed to 1 out of 19 men.
First post, so I hope I got everything right!