Cameron reshuffles Cabinet

Number of leading female ministers promoted

George Osborne (left) remains as Chancellor and has been given the additional title of First Secretary of State. Nicky Morgan (second left) stays as Education Secretary, Chris Grayling moves from Justice Secretary to become Leader of the Commons and Tina
George Osborne (left) remains as Chancellor and has been given the additional title of First Secretary of State. Nicky Morgan (second left) stays as Education Secretary, Chris Grayling moves from Justice Secretary to become Leader of the Commons and Tina
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BBC Online :Prime Minister David Cameron is completing his cabinet reshuffle, with a number of leading female ministers being handed big promotions.Amber Rudd is Energy and Climate Change Secretary and Priti Patel will attend Cabinet as employment minister. Boris Johnson will not be made a minister but will attend separate Tory “political cabinet” meetings.Mr Cameron said Mr Johnson “would devote his attention, as promised” to his final year as Mayor of London.The BBC’s Norman Smith said Mr Johnson would be “integral” to Mr Cameron’s team although it was an acknowledgement that he could not both “run London and a major government department”.Mr Cameron is now addressing Conservative backbenchers soon for the first time since winning a majority. A spokesman for Mr Johnson said he had accepted an invitation to attend weekly political cabinets – held after the full cabinet session – but would not take a ministerial role.”The Mayor has always been clear – he has to fulfil his mandate running London first – and that’s exactly what he will be doing until his term ends in May 2016,” he said.As he pieces together his new Cabinet, Mr Cameron is filling a number of top roles previously held by Lib Dems in the former coalition government.Former energy minister Ms Rudd is promoted to take control of energy policy, a role held before the election by Ed Davey. Mr Javid, a rising star in the party, succeeds Vince Cable as business secretary.Mr Whittingdale, a former private secretary to Lady Thatcher, has joined the government for the first time. He was chair of the influential Commons culture committee over the past five years, overseeing its inquiry into phone hacking.The Conservatives won a 12-seat majority in the House of Commons in Thursday’s election, taking 331 of the 650 seats. You can see the full results here. As MPs return to Westminster, Mr Cameron will pledge to ensure the “economic recovery reaches all parts of our country”.Mr Cameron will tell the 1922 Committee his first term was “about repair and recovery”, saying it fell to his party to put the economy back on track after “the great Labour recession”, and that the next term is about renewal.”It will be our task to renew a sense of fairness in our society – where those who work hard and do the right thing are able to get on,” he will say.The prime minister will address the committee on plans to renew the UK’s relationship with Europe and show “respect” for all parts of the Union.Mr Cameron told Channel 4 News on Sunday he had already called some European leaders ahead of efforts to renegotiate Britain’s terms of membership of the EU.However, any efforts to address concerns over high levels of immigration and the effect on the UK labour market could prove a sticking point. Ministers from Poland, Hungary and Slovakia have told the Financial Times they are not prepared to give up on the principle of freedom of movement for their citizens.Former EU Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso told Radio 4’s Today programme he believed other EU leaders would be prepared to accommodate UK demands as long as they were “compatible with the overall project of European integration”.”The anti-European party, the Ukip party was reduced to a very small expression, almost irrelevant,” he said.”So today Prime Minister Cameron has internally much greater authority and from my experience – more than 10 years knowing him – I know he is someone determined and someone pragmatic.”In the first salvo over the EU referendum, which Mr Cameron has pledged to hold by the end of 2017, backbencher Graham Brady said not allowing ministers to campaign against continued membership could lead to tensions.

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