London: Liz Truss has rewarded her key allies with top jobs in a major reshuffle hours after succeeding Boris Johnson as the UK Prime Minister, the media reported.
Kwasi Kwarteng has been made the Chancellor, James Cleverly became Foreign Secretary and Suella Braverman replaced Priti Patel as Home Secretary, reports the BBC.
One of Truss’s closest friends, Therese Coffey, has been appointed as Health Secretary and Deputy Prime Minister.
Her new cabinet will meet ahead of her first Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday.
None of those who backed her defeated rival, Rishi Sunak, will remain in her full cabinet, with Dominic Raab, Grant Shapps, George Eustice and Steve Barclay all returning to the backbenches, the BBC reported.
But Truss’s press secretary said the changes would “unify” the Conservative Party and pointed to senior roles for five of her leadership rivals: Braverman, Tom Tugendhat as Security Minister, Kemi Badenoch as Trade Secretary, Penny Mordaunt as Leader of the Commons, and Nadhim Zahawi as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster.
For the first time, none of the top four “great offices of state” — Prime Minister, Chancellor, Home Secretary and Foreign Secretary — is held by a white man, BBC reported.
Truss spoke to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in her first call with a foreign leader as Prime Minister, during which she pledged the UK’s ongoing support to the war-torn nation.
Downing Street said Truss was also “delighted” to accept an invitation to visit Ukraine.
She later spoke to US President Joe Biden, where the pair discussed the importance of the UK reaching an agreement with the EU over post-Brexit trading rules in Northern Ireland.
–IANS