British PM Theresa May completes Cabinet reshuffle after chaotic start

LONDON: British Prime Minister Theresa May completed a government shake-up Tuesday without further blunders after a first day marred by farce and the refusal of some ministers to move.

More women and ethnic minority MPs were appointed to junior ministerial positions in a move May said was aimed at making the government look "more like the country it serves".

The reshuffle "allows a new generation of gifted ministers to step up and make life better for people across the whole UK," May said in a statement.

Some MPs in her Conservative Party had joined newspaper commentators in condemning a chaotic reshuffle of senior ministers on Monday, which was followed by a reorganisation of the junior ranks on Tuesday.

Junior trade minister Mark Garnier was the first to go, tweeting that he was "very sad to have lost my job" but would support the government from the backbenches of the House of Commons.

Garnier was subject to an internal investigation late last year after asking his then secretary to buy sex toys, but was cleared of misconduct.

New Conservative Party chairman Brandon Lewis said there would be a "really good breath of fresh air coming in" among the lower ministerial ranks.

There was criticism of some of the promotions, however.

Conservative MP Philip Davies told The Daily Telegraph newspaper: "It certainly does not do anyone any favours to promote people who are not ready for promotion just because of their gender or race."

May's spokesman rejected the accusation, saying: "This is about the prime minister putting in place the right team to tackle the challenges the country faces."

The reshuffle was intended to "refresh" May's team after a torrid 2017, when she called a snap election only to lose her parliamentary majority, and in which three of her senior ministers were forced to resign in scandals.

Ministers refuse to move
Following the shambolic start of the reshuffle on Monday, several politics watchers said it had served to highlight May's weakness.

Writing in The Times newspaper, columnist Rachel Sylvester said: "An event that could have been used to clarify the direction of the government after a difficult few months served only to highlight the incoherence."

Most senior ministers stayed in their posts on Monday, with some defying May's attempts to move them.

Justine Greening resigned as education secretary rather than be transferred to the welfare and pensions department, while Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt also reportedly refused to be moved and stayed in his post.

The Conservative Party meanwhile was widely mocked for wrongly tweeting the name of a new chairman, only to delete it and later announce Lewis to the job.

"The first rule of a shuffle is that it must leave the party leader at least as strong when it ends as when it started. It has been spectacularly broken so far," wrote the editor of the news website ConservativeHome.

The second day of the reshuffle got off to a bad start, when a government-appointed member of the universities regulator resigned following criticism in parliament over past comments he made against women, gays and disabled people.

Toby Young, whose appointment had been defended by senior ministers, said his position had "become a distraction" for the work of the Office for Students.