Rishi Sunak unveiled his top team of ministers on Wednesday, hours after becoming Britain’s first black Prime Minister, vowing stability.
Here are the senior members of his cabinet:
– Treasury Secretary: Jeremy Hunt
Hunt, a mild-mannered political survivor, remains in the role ex-leader Liz Truss cast him in 11 days ago as she tried to save her doomed premiership.
The 55-year-old has so far managed to calm markets, which have been badly rocked by her disastrous budget over the past month, but she will need all her considerable experience to further stabilize the volatile situation.
As health secretary under David Cameron and foreign secretary under Theresa May, he found himself on the sidelines after Boris Johnson defeated him to become party leader in 2019.
After another failed leadership attempt this year after Johnson’s passing, Hunt suddenly finds himself at the heart of the economic and political storm that has swept the country.
Like Sunak, he has warned of difficult public spending decisions ahead of the government’s much-anticipated medium-term fiscal plan presentation on October 31.
– Secretary of State: James Cleverly
Cleverly, Britain’s first top diplomat of colour, is another Truss holdover.
Last month, he was considered a lowly pick to succeed her in the global role, and was a loyal lieutenant with some diplomatic experience.
A mixed-race army reservist with the actual rank of lieutenant colonel, he spent two years as junior foreign secretary, having previously worked in the Brexit department.
The 53-year-old backed a bold, eventually aborted comeback bid from Johnson over the weekend but was seemingly forgiven by Sunak.
Little known in the UK outside of Westminster, Cleverly was first elected to Parliament in 2015, having served in London’s Decentralized Assembly from 2007 and becoming an ally of then-Mayor Johnson.
– Home Secretary: Suella Braverman
Braverman is a darling of the British Conservative Right for its attacks on the ‘Wake’ policy and other hard-line positions. Just days after quitting the same role under Truss, Braverman makes an amazing return.
The 42-year-old claimed to have resigned because she used her personal email address to send an official document to a colleague, but also said she had “serious concerns” about Truss’s government not meeting the promises of the manifesto breaks.
She then supported Sunak as leader.
In the last year of Johnson’s tenure, she was attorney general and had worked as an attorney before becoming an MP in 2015.
Finding a solution to the thorny political issue of illegal migration that ultimately thwarted predecessor Priti Patel will remain Braverman’s top priority.
The government is currently embroiled in a legal battle to implement its plan to send migrants illegally across the English Channel to Rwanda, which it strongly supports.
She has contrasted the illegal entry of Canal migrants with the experiences of her own family.
Braverman’s parents, who are of Indian origin, legally immigrated to Britain from Kenya and Mauritius in the 1960s.
– Secretary of Defense: Ben Wallace
Wallace is a veteran of the role compared to changes in other departments and has headed the ministry since July 2019.
Previously he was Secretary of State for Security and was widely credited for leading the British response to Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine.
Wallace was aided in this role by having previously served in the army as an officer in the Scots Guards and by heading a parliamentary group on relations with Iran.
A popular figure at the party’s grassroots level, he has regularly led polls on their preferences for a new Conservative leader amid the political turmoil of recent months.
Despite this, the 48-year-old has never led the Tories and has repeatedly insisted he prefers his current job.
– Penny Mordaunt
Sunak’s newest rival in leadership, Mordaunt, remains leader of the House of Commons, a post that oversees government affairs in Parliament.
Mordaunt withdrew from the Tory leadership contest after failing to garner enough support from Tory MPs minutes before Monday’s lunchtime deadline, and may have paid a political price for not giving up sooner.
Neither a promotion nor a demotion, the non-movement could disappoint the ambitious centrist who had been tapped for higher-level positions such as foreign minister.
The 49-year-old has held several senior posts in the UK government and even appeared on a famous reality TV show, but is still little known beyond Westminster and her ruling Conservatives.
