Truss appoints diverse Cabinet, old guard gone

Prime Minister Liz Truss held her first Cabinet meeting at 10 Downing Street in London on Wednesday after announcing one of the UKrsquos most diverse Cabinets with key frontline posts going to ethnic minority members of Parliament including Indianorigin Suella Braverman as the Home SecretaryAnother Indianorigin minister in the Cabinet Agraborn Alok Sharma retains his climate action job as the COP26 President as does Defence Secretary Ben Wallace in a new top team that is otherwise a complete shakeup of the old guardMany senior Tories who had backed Trussrsquo rival British Indian former finance minister Rishi Sunak find themselves without a job including former justice secretary Dominic Raab transport secretary Grant ShappsNew British PMrsquos left and right handsTherese Coffey Deputy Prime Minister and Health SecretaryA former work and pensions secretary and a longtime friend of Truss Coffey is known as a devout Roman Catholic When she was asked about her views on US Supreme Court ruling on abortion Coffey said the law wonrsquot change in the UK But she said she would prefer people not to go for abortionsKwasi Kwarteng ChancellorAnother key ally of Liz Truss he replaces Nadhim Zahawi who only took the role after Rishi Sunakrsquos resignation Of Ghanaian heritage He became an MP in 2010 the same year as Truss In January 2021 he became the first black Conservative cabinet minister when Boris Johnson appointed him business secretaryJames Cleverly Foreign SecretaryJames Cleverly has taken over the new PMrsquos former dept He had been the education secretary since July but was a minister in the Foreign Office with responsibility for Europe and North America when Russia attacked Ukraine He was a member of the London Assembly where he became an ally of Boris JohnsonSuella Braverman Home SecretaryThe Indianorigin barrister replaces fellow colleague of Indian descent Priti Patel Braverman is an enthusiastic Brexit supporter Last year after she announced she was expecting her second child the government amended the law so that shemdashand future ministersmdashcould take six monthsrsquo maternity leave without having to quitAlok Sharma COP26 PresidentAlok Sharma another Indianorigin minister will stay on as president for COP26 The exbusiness secretary and international development secretary did not reveal who he was supporting in the leadership race Agraborn Sharma a qualified CA worked for Deloitte before spending 16 years in bankingThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever