Meet Liz Truss’s new Cabinet ‘of all the talents’

Liz Truss gathered her Cabinet ‘of all the talents’ for the first time as PM today, packing her top team with loyalists and purging almost all remaining supporters of Rishi Sunak.

Her new look administration boasts plummy Old Etonians, a few state-educated ministers, ex-soldiers, and an absence of white men in the Great Offices of State for the first time ever. 

Kwasi Kwarteng, whose parents came from Ghana has been confirmed as Chancellor, James Cleverly, whose mother was Sierra Leonean is Foreign Secretary, while Suella Braverman, whose parents were from Goa, takes the other Great Office of State as Home Secretary.

Overall it is a Cabinet short on lengthy ministerial experience – apart from the Prime Minister herself. 

The new deputy PM and Health Secretary Therese Coffey dismissed the concerns as she toured broadcast studios this morning, saying the Cabinet is ‘diverse’ and includes ‘all the talents’. ‘She is focused on a government of all the talents,’ Ms Coffey said.

Dominic Raab, Grant Shapps, Steve Barclay, George Eustice and Shailesh Vara were among the allies of the former Chancellor to be exiled to the backbenches.

However, the scale of the bloodletting has caused alarm in some quarters, with many big beasts now outside the tent. In what has been taken as a thinly-veiled warning, Mr Shapps has promised to be a ‘strong independent voice’ outside of government. 

The wife of ousted veterans minister Johnny Mercer branded Ms Truss an ‘imbecile’ after he said he had been ‘relieved of duty’.  

New Environment Secretary Ranil Jayawardena described the first Cabinet meeting as ‘very positive’ when journalists asked him how it went.

Alongside making more appointments, Ms Truss is bracing for her first showdown with Sir Keir in the Commons. 

Elsewhere, Wendy Morton has been installed as the Tories’ first female chief whip, in charge of parliamentary party discipline. 

Ben Wallace remains Defence Secretary after backing her campaign and Brandon Lewis is made Justice Secretary, while Boris Johnson loyalist Jacob Rees Mogg is business secretary. Kemi Badenoch was rewarded for a strong leadership bid as she is named Trade Secretary, while Kit Malthouse has become Education Secretary. 

Tory chairman Andrew Stephenson and levelling up secretary Greg Clark, who all stayed neutral, also declared they were leaving their posts. 

Nadhim Zahawi, who ran to be leader before supporting Truss, was demoted from Chancellor but remains in the Cabinet as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Equalities Minister, while Alok Sharma was re-appointed as Cop26 president. 

Penny Mordaunt, who came close to blocking Ms Truss’s run for power, becomes Leader of the Commons, while Chief Secretary to the Treasury Simon Clarke is Levelling Up Secretary. 

Her press secretary insisted the changes would ‘unify’ the Tory party, pointing to senior roles for five leadership rivals, Penny Mordaunt, Tom Tugendhat, Braverman, Badenoch and Nadhim Zahawi. 

New Chancellor Mr Kwarteng said he set out Liz Truss’s ‘new, pro-growth economic approach’ in a meeting with the bosses of major banks. 

Fresh support could be announced as soon as Thursday. 

He tweeted a photo of himself with the group, writing: ‘Great to meet market & City leaders this morning.

‘I set out Prime Minister @trussliz’s new, pro-growth economic approach, including immediate support for families and businesses to tackle the cost of living and a commitment to fiscal sustainability.’

The new premier has little time to celebrate as she rushes to finalise plans for curbing soaring energy bills.

She is expected to cap the typical household bill at £2,500 a year – with costs further offset by keeping the £400 handout that had already been committed.

That would leave the level around the same as the £1,900 existing cap, and a thousand pounds below the figure it was due to hit next month.

There had been speculation that the policy would be added to future bills.

However, it is now expected to be added to government borrowing – with the markets already upping interest costs as a result. 

The total cost is hard to estimate as it depends on international gas prices, but could be well over £100billion – with some experts believed it will reach £150billion.

Here we look at who is who in the new administration: 

Kwasi Kwarteng – Chancellor of the Exchequer

Age: 47

Family: Married to Harriet, a solicitor. They have a young daughter

Education: Eton College

The new Chancellor may be a renowned brainbox with a PhD in economic history from Cambridge University.

But Kwasi Kwarteng does not always have the answers. When he appeared on University Challenge in 1995, he buzzed in response to a question about a donkey, only to declare to quizmaster Jeremy Paxman: ‘Oh f***, I’ve forgotten.’

As if it weren’t bad enough the first time, after racking his brains, he added: ‘Oh f***’, again.

Bungling BBC producers failed to notice the 19-year-old classics student’s muttered swearing, and they were broadcast to the nation.

And so it was that Mr Kwarteng first came to national attention in an article on page three of The Sun headlined ‘Rudiversity Challenge’.

But undergraduate Mr Kwarteng had the last laugh as his team from Trinity College Cambridge won every stage and went on to be crowned the 1995 champions of University Challenge.

He will be hoping his winning streak continues – after Liz Truss appointed him to the Treasury amid some of the toughest economic conditions in living memory.

The Business Secretary, who lives in the same Greenwich street as Ms Truss, will move in next to her in No11. 

A frontline supporter of her campaign, he will have the huge task of keeping the economy afloat and helping households through the cost of living squeeze. 

He will replace Nadhim Zahawi, who could move to the Cabinet Office after just two months at the helm of the Treasury as an interim chancellor following Rishi Sunak’s resignation.

Therese Coffey – Health Secretary / Deputy Prime Minister

Age: 50

Family: Single, no children

Education: Oxford

Liz Truss’ new Health Secretary Therese Coffey today admitted that she is ‘no role model’ when it comes to her own body when questioned over her weight, drinking habits and cigar smoking.

Ms Coffey, described as the Prime Minister’s trusted lieutenant and confidante, was famously pictured clutching a glass of fizz with a cigar in her mouth while partying with fellow MPs. 

In an interview with LBC breakfast supremo Nick Ferrari on her first day in the job, interrupted briefly by her Dr Dre iPhone alarm, he asked: ‘As someone who likes a cigar, enjoys the odd noggin – as do – and let’s be candid, you and I could possibly do with losing a pound or two… you are not necessarily the best example to be the Secretary of State for Health. Therese Coffey, how would you respond?’.

The cabinet minister smiled wryly and said: ‘My focus is on how we deliver for patients and I appreciate I may not be the role model, but I am sure that the Chief Medical Officer and others will continue to be role models in that regard and I will do my best as well’.

As the photo of her smoking and drinking at the Spectator Summer Party in 2016 was trending on Twitter, she added: ‘I will probably get all sorts of comments, Nick, but nevertheless, on a more serious matter, I have been a patient of the NHS too and have had some brilliant experiences and I have had some experiences where it could have been better. My focus is on patients and that is what I will be making sure the department focuses on too.’ 

The new Health Secretary, who describes herself as a former smoker, said. ‘I didn’t look at social media last night, I don’t tend to look at social media,’ she said, adding that such comments do not worry her. 

There was support for Ms Coffey on social media – from people who dismissed concerns about her lifestyle. Some said that some of the criticism was sexist.

One said: ‘Stop slagging off Therese Coffey for being fat. Most of the British population is fat. I don’t care how she looks but she has a very difficult job to do and let’s hope she can succeed’. Another tweeted: ‘Give Coffey a break. Seriously though, someone who is overweight, smokes fat cigars and boozes a fair bit is probably in good place to know more about health systems! Personally I always like it when MPs know how to live a little I don’t want a bunch of squares in charge’.

The karaoke and cigar-loving MP is a fellow member of the 2010 parliamentary intake whose Suffolk Coastal constituency neighbours Miss Truss’s South West Norfolk seat, and they have long been allies. 

The new Prime Minister moved her from work and pensions to Health Secretary, taking over from Steve Barclay who has made little impression during just a few weeks in the role. 

But she will also have the added role of Deputy Prime Minister, a sign perhaps of how high a priority the NHS and social care will be to her administration.

She will have to tackle the huge waiting lists that have built up since Covid struck as well as the long delays for ambulances that patients are having to endure.

Suella Braverman –  Home Secretary

Age: 42

Family: Two young children with husband Rael

Education:  Cambridge University

The new Home Secretary has previously battled against woke ‘witch trials’ and warned against diversity zealots in Whitehall.

Suella Braverman’s failed Tory leadership bid, which saw her eliminated in the second ballot of MPs, was inspired by a hardline vision of tax cuts, border control and an anti-Net Zero ethos.

But while initially seen as the dark horse pick for the right-wing of the Tory Party, she threw her support behind the surging Liz Truss as MPs coalesced around the new Prime Minister.

Now the staunch Brexiteer, who served loyally in Boris Johnson’s Cabinet as Attorney General, has been appointed to replace Priti Patel as Home Secretary.

Like Miss Patel, she is of Indian ancestry – her parents, of Goan and Mauritian origins, emigrated to Britain in the 1960s from East Africa before setting up base in Harrow, north-west London.

Her mother, a nurse by profession, ensured politics was a part of family life. A Tory councillor for 16 years, she also stood for Parliament in 2001 and 2003.

Mrs Braverman herself was an early adopter of Tory values, serving as president of the Cambridge University Conservative Association while studying law.

After two failed parliamentary runs, she was elected as MP for Fareham in Hampshire in 2015 and rose through the party ranks quickly.

She chaired the pro-Leave European Research Group until she was promoted to a ministerial role at the Department for Exiting the European Union under Theresa May. Under Mr Johnson, she replaced Geoffrey Cox as Attorney General in 2020.

After dropping out of the Tory leadership race this summer, she praised both Liz Truss and Kemi Badenoch, but suggested her supporters should back the former as she had the best chance of making it to the final two.

In recent years Mrs Braverman has engaged in a war on ‘woke’ elements in society. In 2019 she suggested the Conservatives were ‘engaged in a battle against Cultural Marxism’.

When setting out her leadership priorities in July, she said: ‘We need to get rid of all of this woke rubbish and actually get back to a country where describing a man and a woman in terms of biology does not mean that you’re going to lose your job.’

And in an article for The Daily Mail a month later, the Attorney General warned against woke ‘witch trials’ and said she had scrapped equality and diversity training in her own department.

She has also said schools do not legally need to accommodate pupils who want to change their gender.

Outside politics, Mrs Braverman has two children with her husband Rael, whom she married at the House of Commons in 2018.

She has faced questions over her involvement with the controversial Buddhist Triratna sect.

The Triratna order, formerly one of Buddhism’s largest sects in the UK, has been the subject of historic sexual abuse allegations.

Mrs Braverman is believed to have attended meetings and retreats organised by the group, and was known as a ‘mitra’ – or friend – within the order.

James Cleverly – Foreign Secretary

Age: 53

Family: Married to Susannah Sparks with two sons

Education: Thames Valley University 

An early backer of Miss Truss’s candidacy, the Londoner moves from education to her former role as Foreign Secretary. 

The pair worked together in the Foreign Office in the past year, where he was a junior minister before being moved in Boris Johnson’s emergency reshuffle last month.

He will keep up her strong support for Ukraine and sanctions on Russia.

He would also keep up a hardline on China, with a more hawkish attitude to Beijing expected than under Mr Johnson.

But his most immediate priority is likely to be the Brexit saga over Northern Ireland, which is nowhere near being solved despite political paralysis in Ulster.

While the economy is certain to dominate the first months of the new premier’s term, Johnson’s successor will also have to steer the UK on the international stage in the face of Russia’s war in Ukraine, an increasingly assertive China and ongoing tensions with the European Union over the aftermath of Brexit – especially in Northern Ireland.

Truss has talked tough as foreign secretary on all three main issues, though some analysts believe she may tone down her ‘robust’ rhetoric if she becomes leader. 

Kit Malthouse – Education Secretary

 Age: 55

Family: Twice-married with three children

Education: Newcastle University  

Kit Malthouse has held a series of high-profile roles but joins the cabinet for the first time

He was policing minister under home secretary Priti Patel, having been a deputy London mayor under Boris Johnson before winning a seat in North West Hampshire.

He hit the headlines earlier this year when he complained that the cost-of-living crisis was making life ‘tricky’ for his family – while pulling in a six-figure government and MP combined salary.

Mr Malthouse bemoaned the cost of oil to heat his family home in rural Hampshire on the day he and other MPs received a £2,212 pay rise.

He conducted a series of media interviews in front of a log fire in which he admitted that energy price rises which kicked in the same day would make life ‘tough’ for millions of Britons.

MPs’ salaries rose to £84,144 in April, up by 2.7 per cent, after the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA) announced last month that their pay would go up for the first time in two years.

Because of his ministerial salary top-up his pay was £115,824, neatly five-times the UK average salary. It will have risen again as he takes on a more senior role.

Education secretary has been something of a poisoned chalice in recent years. Gavin Williamson was axed after overseeing a Covid exams fiasco. His replacement, Nadhim Zahawi, lasted nine months before becoming Chancellor, and his replacement, Michelle Donelan, quit inside 36 hours. 

Ben Wallace –  Defence Secretary

Age: 52

Family: Married to Liza with three children

Education: Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst

The Defence Secretary, a former soldier, is one of the few members of Boris Johnson’s final Cabinet who stayed in their role. 

He had been tipped to run for party leader after Mr Johnson resigned. But he said his focus was ‘my current job and keeping this great country safe’ and later publicly backed Ms Truss. 

She has pledged to increase defence spending to 3 per cent of GDP amid the ongoing war in Ukraine. 

The Defence Secretary described the Foreign Secretary as ‘authentic, honest and experienced’ with the ‘integrity’ for the top job, in the Sun.

He also told The Times Ms Truss was ‘a winner not because she’s a slick salesperson but because she is authentic.’

Mr Wallace hit out at the former Chancellor, questioning what would have happened if the markets crashed on the day he quit his role, according to The Sun. 

‘I don’t have the luxury as Defence Secretary of just walking out the door – I have roles in keeping this country safe,’ he told the paper.

‘And the guardian of the markets, you know, the guardian of our economy, is the chancellor.’

Kemi Badenoch – International Trade Secretary

Age: 42

Family: Three children with banker husband Hamish

Education: University of Sussex

Kemi Badenoch has gone from race outsider to a serious contender with the backing of Michael Gove and a promise to be the ‘fresh face’ the party needs after chaos of Boris Johnson’s premiership.

The MP for Saffron Walden, 42, who grew up in the UK, US and Nigeria, is known as a culture warrior with anti-‘woke’ views on issues including trans rights that make her a hit among right-leaning members of the party.

The former equalities minister threw her hat into the ring with a plan for a smaller state and a government ‘focused on the essentials’ and won the support of Mr Gove, who said the party needs a leader with ‘Kemi’s focus, intellect and no-bulls*** drive’.

While she failed to progress to the final two her run was high-profile enough to win her a Cabinet post as International Trade Secretary.  

It marks a massive boost in profile for Ms Badenoch, a mother-of-three former banker who has only been an MP for five years and remains unknown to most of the population.

She admits her pro-Brexit views put her at odds with her husband Hamish, a Deutsche Bank banker and former Tory Councillor. The couple have three children – two sons and a daughter, who they keep out of the public eye.

Ms Badenoch was born in Wimbledon, south-west London after her Nigerian parents came to the UK so her mother, a professor of physiology, could receive medical treatment.

She grew up in Lagos where her father worked as a GP, although they spent time in the US while her mother was lecturing.

‘I come from a middle-class background but I grew up in a very poor place,’ she once said in an interview. ‘Being middle class in Nigeria still meant having no running water or electricity, sometimes taking your own chair to school.’

At 16, Ms Badenoch returned to London to realise her ‘dream’ of completing her studies in the UK and enrolled in a part-time A-Level course in Morden.

At the time Nigeria was in the midst of political chaos that impacted the economy. The family experienced poverty and Ms Badenoch’s father ‘scraped together’ enough money for a plane ticket and £100 for his daughter to start her new life.

To support herself, Ms Badenoch, who lived with a family friend, secured a part-time job at McDonald’s and picked up ad-hoc work elsewhere.

Brandon Lewis –  Justice Secretary 

Age: 51

Family: Married to Justine with two children

Education: University of Buckingham, King’s College London

Mr Lewis, Northern Ireland Secretary for two years, got his biggest role to date as Justice Secretary. 

Like Miss Truss, he has been a Norfolk MP since 2010 – but he backed Nadhim Zahawi for the leadership at first. 

He replaced Dominic Raab, who was dumped by Truss, and will have to handle the ongoing barristers’ strike.

He was at Northern Ireland throughout one of its trickiest periods, with the country’s political establishment at war over the way Brexit has affected it.

While he would leave without a solution having been achieved, he is seen as having done a good job in difficult circumstances.

Jacob Rees-Mogg – Business Secretary

Age: 53

Family: Six children with Helena

Education: Eton College 

The fogeyish Brexit Opportunities Minister was given a department after backing Liz Truss from the off. 

After some reports linking him with a rather interesting move to Levelling-Up, the old-fashioned Old Etonian moved to Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.

A father of six and founder of the investment fund Somerset Holdings, his experience is expected to be put to use as the new Business Secretary. 

His focus in the Cabinet Office has been on making the most of Brexit and getting civil servants back into the office, but his new role will include increasing investment in local energy production and tackling soaring prices.

Last week he announced more than 250 training courses that have been distracting civil servants from work with ‘wokery’ will be axed in a new crackdown.

The Cabinet Office minister claims to have got rid of 60 per cent of ‘wellness, inclusion and diversity’ courses and has written to Tory colleagues in charge of departments urging them to do the same.

Mr Rees-Mogg has been clear that that ‘wokery’ in the Civil Service is wasting employees’ time when departments such as the Passport Office and DVLA face a backlog of work.

His bonfire of events and meetings include sessions called ‘Find Your Mojo’, ‘Give Me Strength’, ‘Buddy to Boss’, ‘Tricky People’, ‘Wood for the Trees’ and ‘De-biasing Decision-making’.

Mr Rees-Mogg has also taken a hammer to course he believes were ‘indoctrinating’ civil servants with ‘divisive ideological agendas’ having led a crusade to get taxpayer-funded staff back in the office. 

Simon Clarke – Levelling-Up Secretary

Age: 37

Family: Divorced, has a son with ex-wife Hannah

Education: Oxford

As Chief Secretary to the Treasury, he had been expected to back Chancellor Rishi Sunak for the party leadership. 

But instead Mr Clarke quickly announced his support for Miss Truss and her plans to cut tax. 

He had been linked with a Treasury promotion to Chancellor but lost out to Mr Kwarteng.  

An MP in the North East where he grew up, as Levelling-Up Secretary he will have to deliver on the promises made to voters in the ‘red wall’ constituencies at the last election.

These areas will likely bear the brunt of the cost-of-living crisis so what he can do in this new role with have a key role in Tory electoral fortunes at the next election.

Tom Tugendhat – Security Minister (attending Cabinet)

Age: 49

Family: Two children with wife Anissia

Education: St Paul’s, University of Bristol

Tom Tugendhat made a surprise move to back Liz Truss after he was eliminated from the leadership election in the group stage.

He was seen as the leading moderate One Nation Conservative candidate in the race for the party leadership before being knocked out. 

His endorsement boosted Ms Truss’s claim she can unite the Conservative Party.

Mr Tugendhat said he supported the frontrunner’s pledge to cut taxes, saying they were ‘founded on true Conservative principles’.

Writing in The Times, Mr Tugendhat argued it was ‘not right’ for the public to shoulder the highest tax burden in 70 years while people look to the winter with ‘dread’ amid rising costs.

A China and general foreign policy hawk, Iraq veteran Mr Tugendhat could be rewarded with his first ministerial post. 

He has been linked with Security Minister at the Home Office, or a similar level post at the Foreign Office.