British Foreign, Brexit Ministers keep jobs in reshuffle

British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond and Brexit Minister David Davis were re-confirmed in their current posts as Prime Minister Theresa May reshuffled her cabinet on Monday.

Apart from the government, May also made significant changes in the Conservative Party structure with Brandon Lewis replacing Sir Patrick McLoughlin as party chairman and James Cleverly his new deputy, the BBC reported.

James Brokenshire resigned as Northern Ireland Secretary for health reasons, while Justice Secretary David Lidington moved to the Cabinet Office replacing Damian Green who resigned over allegations of sexual harassment.

Amber Rudd remains at the Home Office and Sajid Javid, who had charge of Community and Local Government, gets Housing in his remit too.

Major changes to the ministerial team are expected on Tuesday when May is expected to fire a number of junior ministers to recruit more recently elected MPs as she revamps her team by promoting new blood.

The Prime Minister started the New Year, according to one political commentator, with a cabinet of ministers with an average age of 51, around 70 per cent of them male, and 96 per cent of them white, Xinhua reported.

The first major change saw Immigration Minister Lewis move to a party role.

Earlier, there was an unexpected blow for May when Brokenshire resigned just as May began to overhaul her cabinet, saying: "In the last few days I have been told that I have a small lesion in my right lung which needs to be removed."

"Clearly, my long term health and my family are my priorities and I intend to proceed with surgery at the earliest possible opportunity," he wrote in the resignation letter.

--IANS

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