- Foreign Secretary William Hague dramatically quits as Foreign Secretary
- Hague will stay in Cabinet as Commons leader but quit as an MP in 2015
- Defence Secretary Philip Hammond becomes new Foreign Secretary
- Education Secretary Michael Gove demoted to become Chief Whip
- Lord Hill to be nominated by Cameron as the UK's EU Commissioner
- Treasury minister Nicky Morgan becomes new Education Secretary
- Education minister Liz Truss replaces Owen Paterson at Environment
- Former Chancellor Ken Clarke resigns to return to the backbenches
- Andrew Lansley, Dominic Grieve, David Willetts and David Jones are all out
David
Cameron has embarked on the most dramatic reshuffle of his premiership,
with big names including William Hague and Michael Gove ousted from
their jobs.
A
string of older, long-serving men have been ditched, a string of women
marching up Downing Street today to be told of their promotions.
Mr Hague has quit as Foreign Secretary while Mr Gove is shunted from Education Secretary to be Chief Whip.
Nicky
Morgan becomes the new Education Secretary, Liz Truss is the new
Environment Secretary, employment minister Esther McVey will attend
Cabinet, and their are new jobs for Anna Soubry, Priti Patel, Amber Rudd
and Penny Mordaunt, who famously took part in ITV's Splash!.
Michael
Gove has been ousted as Education Secretary to be replaced by junior
Treasury minister Nicky Morgan, the first woman promoted to the Cabinet
in the reshuffle
On the up:
Education minister Liz Truss (left) becomes the new Environment
Secretary, replacing Owen Paterson who was sacked last night after his
disastrous handling of the horsemeat scandal, a cull of badgers and the
winter floods. Employment minister Esther McVey is also promoted to now
attend Cabinet
Mr
Gove has been ousted as Education Secretary after becoming one of the
most toxic members of the Cabinet following repeated clashes with
teachers.
Unions
expressed delight at Mr Gove's departure, claiming he had become a
'liability' for the government and bitterly hated by teachers.
Dr
Mary Bousted, general secretary of the Association of Teachers and
Lecturers (ATL), said: 'David Cameron has, belatedly, realised that
Michael Gove's ideological drive is no substitute for measured,
pragmatic reform of the education system.
'Time after time he has chased newspaper headlines rather than engage with teachers.'
Mr
Cameron announced Mr Gove will become Chief Whip, with 'an enhanced role
in campaigning and doing broadcast media interviews'.
Financial
Secretary and women's minister Nicky Morgan was seen smiling as she
walked up the steps to Number 10 to learn of her promotion.
Esther McVey is also promoted to now attend Cabinet, in her role as minister for employment and disabilities.
Lord
Hill will be nominated to be the UK's European Commissioner, avoiding a
difficult by-election if an MP had moved to Brussels.
The former Leader in the Lords once famously tried to resign in a reshuffle in 2012, but was rebuffed Mr Cameron.
Claire
Perry becomes a junior transport minister, Baroness Stowell becomes
leader of the House of Lords and Anna Soubry is promoted to Minister of
State at the Ministry of Defence
Priti Patel, a former aid to William Hague when he was Tory leader, joins the Treasury as Exchequer Secretary
Drama:
William Hague has dramatically quit as Foreign Secretary after four
years to become Commons Leader in David Cameron's most wide-ranging
reshuffle ever. Defence Secretary Philip Hammond becomes the new Foreign
Secretary
Waving
goodbye: Cabinet veteran Kenneth Clarke, Environment Secretary Owen
Paterson and Welsh Secretary David Jones are all heading for the exit
Mr
Cameron has cut a swathe through his top team, with only Chancellor
George Osborne and Home Secretary Theresa May thought to be safe.
The
big shock overnight was the departure of Mr Hague from the Foreign
Office. He will continue in the Cabinet as Leader of the Commons and act
as Mr Cameron's 'de facto deputy' leader of the Tories, before quitting
at as an MP at the 2015 election.
Defence
Secretary Philip Hammond will become the new Foreign Secretary, charged
with clawing back powers from Brussels as part of Mr Cameron's plan to
hold an in-out referendum in 2017.
Energy minister Michael Fallon is promoted to the Cabinet as the new Defence Secretary.
Mr Cameron’s shake-up is designed to make way for a new generation of younger MPs.
But it risks a backlash from the Tory old
guard, who protested that many were being unfairly axed simply for
being ‘pale and male’. One senior Conservative said: ‘This is a
massacre.’
Veterans
including Kenneth Clarke, Environment Secretary Owen Paterson, Attorney
General Dominic Grieve, Welsh Secretary David Jones and leader of the
Commons Andrew Lansley are all out.
Labour
sought to present the shake-up as a 'massacre of the moderates' with
the loss of centrist Tories like Mr Clarke and Mr Grieve, but the attack
has been stunted by the sackings of right-wingers including Mr Paterson
and Mr Jones.
They may be placated by the return to Government today of
former defence secretary and keeper of the Thatcherite flame Liam Fox,
who is ’80 per cent certain’ to win a senior post.
The biggest shock
was the departure from the Foreign Office of Mr Hague, the former
Conservative leader, at a time of intense focus on Mr Cameron’s policy
of renegotiating looser ties with Brussels.
He will remain in the
Cabinet, taking Mr Lansley’s old job as leader of the Commons and
keeping his title of First Secretary of State, for the next nine months –
but will then stand down as an MP.
Sir Bob Kerslake has been ousted as head of the civil service.
The announcement came after Mr
Cameron carried out a string of sackings in a series of face-to-face
meetings in his private office in the Commons and later at Downing
Street, in which he dismissed several of his oldest political allies.
Some, including 74-year-old Mr Clarke, a titan of Tory politics for four decades, jumped before they were pushed.
Drama: David
Cameron has begun his biggest-ever reshuffle, following the shock
announcement that William Hague is quitting as Foreign Secretary
| BEFORE RESHUFFLE | AFTER RESHUFFLE | |
|---|---|---|
| Foreign Secretary | William Hague (MOVED) | Philip Hammond |
| Chancellor of the Exchequer | George Osborne | George Osborne |
| Home Secretary | Theresa May | Theresa May |
| Defence Secretary | Philip Hammond (PROMOTED) | Michael Fallon |
| Work and Pensions Secretary | Iain Duncan Smith | Iain Duncan Smith |
| Justice Secretary | Chris Grayling | Chris Grayling |
| Education Secretary | Michael Gove (MOVED) | Nicky Morgan |
| Communities Secretary | Eric Pickles | Eric Pickles |
| Health Secretary | Jeremy Hunt | Jeremy Hunt |
| Leader of the House of Lords | Lord Hill (EU COMMISSIONER) | Baroness Stowell |
| Environment Secretary | Owen Paterson (SACKED) | Liz Truss |
| International Development Secretary | Justine Greening | Justine Greening |
| Transport Secretary | Patrick McLoughlin | Patrick McLoughlin |
| Culture Secretary | Sajid Javid | Sajid Javid |
| Northern Ireland Secretary | Theresa Villiers | Theresa Villiers |
| Wales Secretary | David Jones (SACKED) | Stephen Crabb |
| Minister without Portfolio | Kenneth Clarke (RESIGNED) | - |
| Leader of the Commons | Andrew Lansley (SACKED) | William Hague |
| Chief Whip | Sir George Young (RESIGNED) | Michael Gove |
| Cabinet Office minister | Francis Maude | Francis Maude |
| Minister for Policy | Oliver Letwin | Oliver Letwin |
| Senior Foreign Office Minister | Baroness Warsi | Baroness Warsi |
| Universities Minister | David Willetts (RESIGNED) | Greg Clarke |
| Minister for Women | Nicky Morgan | Nicky Morgan |
| Tory party chairman | Grant Shapps | Grant Shapps |
| Attorney General | Dominic Grieve (SACKED) | Jeremy Wright |
| Cities Minister | Greg Clark | - |
| ALSO OUT: Police minister Damian Green, international development minister Alan Duncan, Foreign Office minister Hugh Robertson, climate change minister Greg Barker, Northern Ireland minister Andrew Robathan, civil society minister Nick Hurd | ||
END OF AN ERA FOR ONE OF THE CONSERVATIVE'S BIGGEST BEASTS
Ken Clarke remains one of the Tories' best known figures, famous for his love of suede hush puppies, cigars, jazz - and the EU.
One
of the few politicians to hold the posts of Chancellor, Home, Education
and Health Secretary, he served in key roles for Margaret Thatcher and
John Major.
He
launched three failed bids to become Tory leader, before joining Mr
Cameron's frontbench team in opposition and finally returning to the
Cabinet in 2010.
When
the coalition was formed he became Justice Secretary, angering Tory
traditionalists who feared the pro-European was too soft on crime. In
2012 he took a roving brief as Minister without Portfolio.
His
resignation from the Cabinet brings to an end a ministerial career
which began in 1972 - when Mr Cameron was just five years old.
Despite being the son of a Nottinghamshire miner, he became a Tory at Cambridge - where he was president of the Union in 1963.
The 74-year-old became an MP in 1970, but it was not until 1988 that he was promoted to the Cabinet.
He
has also courted controversy for his business interests, including a
highly paid vice-chairmanship of British American Tobacco.
Other
senior figures leaving the Government include universities minister
David Willetts, police minister Damian Green, and international
development minister Alan Duncan, who said he told Mr Cameron earlier
this year of his intention to stand down.
In a striking break with
the so-called ‘chumocracy’ around the Prime Minister, some of those in
the small band who supported him when he launched his leadership bid –
including Foreign Office minister Hugh Robertson, environment minister
Greg Barker and Northern Ireland minister Andrew Robathan – were axed.
Last
night there was frenzied speculation at Westminster over who will
become Foreign Secretary, with Chancellor George Osborne and Home
Secretary Theresa May ruled out by Government sources. MPs were tipping
candidates including Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt, Defence Secretary
Philip Hammond, Culture Secretary Sajid Javid or a surprise female
candidate.
Mr Cameron said: ‘William Hague has been one of the
leading lights of the Conservative Party for a generation, leading the
party and serving in two cabinets.
'Not only has he been a first class
Foreign Secretary – he has also been a close confidante, a wise
counsellor and a great friend.
‘He will remain as First Secretary of
State and my de facto political deputy in the run up to the election –
and it is great to know that he will be a core part of the team working
to ensure an outright Conservative victory at the next election.’
Mr Cameron also paid tribute to Mr Clarke as a 'political Titan for more than a generation'.
'His wise and trenchant views will be missed around the Cabinet table,' the Prime Minister said on Twitter.
Mr Clarke insisted: 'This was the time for me to step down.
'Guys like me who have done a few decades in government took the opportunity to retire.'
However,
in a parting shot at the promotion of Eurosceptics like new Foreign
Secretary Mr Hammond, Mr Clarke has vowed to continue to argue Britain
must remain in the EU.
He
told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: 'Every government in this country
is going to want Britain to stay in the European Union, it is the best
way of affecting global political events and boosting our economy, the
best way of protecting the interests of our citizens, it's a globalised
world.'
Several
of those who were ousted put up desperate fights to survive.
Mr
Lansley, Mr Cameron’s boss when he was joined the Conservative Party as a
researcher, is said to have irritated Downing Street by suggesting he
had been promised the job of Britain’s next European Commissioner.
The
Tory Right had launched a concerted push to save Mr Paterson, a staunch
Eurosceptic Right-winger, in recent days.
Former Conservative Party
chairman Lord Tebbit said his departure would be a serious blow to
traditional Tory supporters, particularly in the countryside.
‘Owen
Paterson is an extremely able minister who has handled a difficult brief
very well,’ Lord Tebbit said:
‘He has very wide support in the
countryside, which is an area we cannot afford to neglect.’
Lord Tebbit also questioned David Cameron’s decision to promote more women in order to make the Tories look more inclusive.
He
said: ‘I take the very simple view that the Prime Minister should
select the best possible people.
'They may or may not be women – that
should not be the first consideration.
'When I go to see a doctor or a
dentist I go on the basis of their professional reputation, not their
gender. It should be no different for ministers.’
MR BORING WHO QUIETLY SPOKE OUT AGAINST THE EU AND GAY MARRIAGE
Philip Hammond becomes the new Foreign Secretary
Philip Hammond is not exciting.
He does not crack jokes or deliver spine-tingling speeches. He is no Boris Johnson or Ken Clarke.
The
58-year-old is a money-man, with the demeanour and precision of an
accountant, who has impressed with his grip on the finances at the
Ministry of Defence.
The
new Foreign Secretary has a huge task ahead of him. With 10 months to
go until the general election, he will have to start the process of
David Cameron’s renegotiation of Britain’s membership of the European
Union.
Crucially,
Hammond has said that if powers are not returned, he would vote to
leave the EU. Now it is his job to make sure that does not happen.
He
is on the right of the party, having spoken out against gay marriage
and defence cuts so vehemently last year he was said to be on
'manoeuvres' to position himself as an alternative Tory leader
The
son of a civil engineer, he went to Shenfield High School in Brentwood,
Essex, with TV presenter Richard Madeley, who once claimed the future
Tory minister was ‘a Goth back then’ who ‘used to arrive in class in a
leather trench-coat with The Guardian under his arm’.
Needless to say, straight-laced Hammond dismissed it as a wind-up.
After
studying Philosophy, Politics, and Economics at Oxford – the
apprenticeship for most of Team Cameron – he joined medical equipment
firm Speywood Laboratories, where he later became a director.
He
ran his own company and became a director of housebuilder Castlemead
Homes, amassing an estimated wealth of more than £8million.
Elected
as MP for Runnymede and Weybridge in Surrey in 1997, he was given his
first job on the frontbench a year later by William Hague, who he now
replaces at the FCO.
As George Osborne’s deputy in opposition, Hammond was expected to join him at the Treasury if the Tories won the 2010 election.
But
coalition meant he was shunted to transport to make way for a Lib Dem,
and was promoted to Defence Secretary in 2011 when Liam Fox was forced
to resign.
Hammond’s ministerial career has often been buffeted by events outside his control.
Now he is one of the great offices of state, life could be about to get a bit ore exciting.
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