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UK leadership LIVE: Boris Johnson names new Cabinet

Boris Johnson takes office on Wednesday as British prime minister and will then unveil the names of the team he has tasked with delivering Brexit. Outgoing PM Theresa May will leave Downing Street after a three-year premiership that was mired by crises over Brexit. She will travel to Buckingham Palace to formally tender her resignation to Queen Elizabeth.

Liz Truss gets Trade Secretary

With Liam Fox sacked, free-marketeerLiz Truss takes over at the Department of Trade. 

Truss was keen for Chancellor of the Exchequer which went to Sajid Javid. 

Nevertheless, Trade is a top job given her interest in economics and a big promotion.

Ben Wallace is new Defence Secretary

Ben Wallace was a junior security minister and has been elevated to Defence Secretary. He is an ultra-Boris Johnson loyalist

That makes four Defence Secretaries for Britain in just two years. 

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Michael Gove is Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster

Former Environment Secretary Michael Gove, whose betrayal of Boris Johnson in 2016 cost the former London Mayor the leadership then has been given the Cabinet job of Chancellor of Duchy of Lancaster.

Normally this job is accompanied by the de-facto deputy job but that's gone to Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab.

But his promotion suggests that Johnson is ready to bury the hatchet for the sake of reforming the Vote Leave band as Johnson aims for Brexit on October 31.

Dominic Raab bags Foreign Secretary and deputy

Arch-Brexiteer Dominic Raab is Foreign Secretary.

Raab was considered Boris Johson's most serious rival when it came to winning over the pro-Brexit grassroots of the party and quit as Brexit Secretary over Theresa May's strategy.

He's also been named First Secretary which makes him effectively de-facto Prime Minister. A soaring rise for Raab.

Priti Patel announced as Home Secretary

Priti Patel is the Home Secretary meaning Boris Johnson's first two appointments have been to promote candidates with an ethnic background. 

Patel was the International Development Secretary under Theresa May but left the job after a scandal. 

As one former Cabinet Minister told me last week, Boris Johnson is a "big fan" of Patel who was a high-profile Vote Leave campaigner.

Cabinet appointments begin - Javid is Chancellor

Sajid Javid is Chancellor of the Exchequer. 

Javid ran for the leadership and was a Remainer but unlike Jeremy Hunt, didn't personally attack Boris Johnson. 

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Boris Johnson clears out the Cabinet with mass purge of ministers including Jeremy Hunt

Boris Johnson is conducting a mass purge of Theresa May's Cabinet and ministry.

The big casualties are:

  • Foreign Secretary and leadership rival Jeremy Hunt
  • Defence Minister Penny Mordaunt (this is a biggie and very much unexpected as she is a Brexiteer although did back Johnson's rival Jeremy Hunt.)
  • Trade Secretary Liam Fox
  • Northern Ireland Secretary Karen Bradley (very much seen as an underperformer)
  • Culture Secretary Jeremy Wright
  • Business Secretary Greg Clark
  • Secretary of State David Mundell
  • Transport Secretary Chris Grayling (a huge liability for the government who has the nickname Failing Grayling)
  • Education Secretary Damian Hinds
  • Housing Secretary James Brokenshire

Donald Tusk mocks Johnson

Donald Tusk, the President of the European Council, who infamously said there was a special place in hell for those who advocated for Brexit without a plan for how do it, appears to mock Boris Johnson and his famed lack of attention to detail, in his congratulatory letter.

Boris Johnson arrives at Number 10, gives first speech

And Boris Johnson has arrived at Number 10.

He visited the Queen alone and is being applauded by his staff and transition team as he walks straight to the lectern to give his first address as PM.

He paid tribute to Theresa May's determination but said, despite it all, there are too many critics who fear Britain is incapable of operating a democratic mandate.

"The doubters, the doomsters, the gloomsters are going to get it wrong again," he said.

"We are going to come out of the EU on October 31st, no ifs or buts, and we will do a new deal, a better deal," he said.

He believes that within 99 days they will have "cracked it" but he said he doesn't intend to wait that long.

The bulk of his speech focused heavily on domestic policies.

He said his job is public service and began by announcing a boost to police numbers and a boost to the NHS. He said his job is to ensure Britons don't have to wait two weeks to see a GP.

He also promised to fix the crisis in social care "once and for all". He also made pledges on education.

Johnson said he will take personal responsibility for the performance of the government.

"Never mind the backstop, the buck stops here," he said.

And he said he wants to govern for all, a clear reference to his critics who believe he is a hard-Brexiteer candidate.

Then he moved back to Brexit, saying he wants tech-checks on the Irish border to prevent a hard border and that Britain will prepare for "No Deal" but not because that's the outcome he's pursuing.

Interestingly, he used much vaguer language on the timing of Britain's exit, saying "at some point in the near future" Britain will come out of the Customs Union. That signals Johnson would be willing to extend the transition period.

Boris Johnson's girlfriend makes first public appearance

Carrie Symonds has joined staff outside Number 10 and members of the Boris Johnson transition team on Downing Street to await the Prime Minister's arrival from Buckingham Palace.

Johnson refused to talk about his private life, including his recent split with his second wife Marina Wheeler and the infamous row he and Symonds had during the leadership contest, recorded by Symond's neighbour and leaked to the media.

Symonds and Johnson have not appeared in public together before and Symonds was invisible (apart from some leaked historical photographs) during the campaign.

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