Liz Truss unveiled her new top team on Tuesday as she formally took over as UK prime minister from Boris Johnson, with no place for white men in any of the three senior-most cabinet posts for the first time in history.
She rewarded allies who helped her win the Conservative leadership election by promoting Kwasi Kwarteng to finance, James Cleverly to foreign affairs, and Suella Braverman to interior.
Kwarteng is the country’s first black chancellor of the exchequer and the son of Ghanaian immigrants. His immediate priority will be to turn Britain’s dire economic fortunes around.
Cleverly is a mixed-race army reservist who served under Truss at the foreign office, while Braverman, whose parents are of Indian origin from Kenya and Mauritius, inherits a tricky brief from Priti Patel.
Cigar-smoking Truss loyalist, Therese Coffey, was made health secretary and deputy prime minister, Downing Street said in a slew of announcements.
Ben Wallace retained the defence ministry, with Truss vowing to extend Johnson’s staunch support for Ukraine.
– Storm clouds –
Truss – Britain’s third female prime minister and the fourth Tory premier in just six years – earlier promised sunnier days ahead despite the current economic gloom.
Heavy rain and thunder forced her supporters to scramble for cover as they waited for her to arrive in Downing Street to make her inaugural speech.
But the clouds lifted as the 47-year-old former foreign secretary’s motorcade swept in, and she vowed that the country would “ride out the storm” of double-digit inflation and soaring energy prices.
“I will take action this week to deal with energy bills and to secure our future energy supply,” she said.
“As strong as the storm may be, I know that the British people are stronger,” she added, outlining her priorities as the economy, energy and health.
Truss became Tory leader on Monday after a summer-long campaign sparked by a rebellion against Johnson in July after a series of scandals.
She arrived in Downing Street after a 1,000-mile (1,600-kilometre) round trip from London to see Queen Elizabeth II in the Scottish Highlands, where she accepted the invitation to form a government.
As soon as Thursday, Truss is expected to sanction a freeze on household energy bills to prevent steep hikes this winter, and possibly beyond, at a cost of tens of billions of pounds.
– Energy crisis –
Hard-pressed households facing 80-per cent increases in electricity and gas bills from October have demanded immediate action to prevent millions being forced to choose between heating and eating this winter.
Businesses have also warned they could be forced to close because of even steeper hikes in energy costs.
Truss, who touts herself as a free-market liberal, has promised tax cuts to stimulate growth, despite warnings that greater borrowing could make inflation worse.
The contrast to her beaten leadership rival Rishi Sunak’s more cautious approach has opened another rift in the Conservative party that was already divided by Johnson’s departure.
Recent opinion polls suggest a sizeable chunk of the British public have no faith in her ability to tackle the cost-of-living crisis.
A new poll by YouGov said only 14 percent expect Truss to do a better job than Johnson.
– Comeback? –
Johnson, whose tenure was dominated by Brexit and Covid, and cut short by the succession of scandals, earlier promised Truss his unswerving support as he made a farewell speech in Downing Street.
“I will be supporting Liz Truss and the new government every step of the way,” he said, before leaving for Balmoral to tender his resignation to the queen.
He urged the Tories to put aside their ideological differences which have seen the party fight like Downing Street’s cats and dogs over how best to tackle the energy crisis.
But the former newspaper polemicist failed to dampen speculation that he is eyeing a potential return to the political front line.
“Like Cincinnatus, I am returning to my plough,” Johnson said. Latin scholars were quick to point out that the Roman statesman eventually returned to politics.
Johnson, 58, remains popular among grassroots Tories as a charismatic election winner who took the country out of the European Union.
Despite repeated accusations of corruption and cronyism during his tenure, and an unprecedented police fine for breaking his own lockdown rules, Johnson is said to be smarting at having to leave.
Speculation has swirled that he could bide his time for a comeback, particularly if Truss struggles to overcome the country’s many problems.
Truss has ruled out seeking her own mandate at an early general election, promising to extend the Tories’ 12 years in power from 2024.
