Suank bids to mend broken Tories by appointing unity cabinet

It comes following his first speech as Prime Minister where he pledged to “unite our country, not with words, but with action”.

The chancellor-turned-Prime Minister yesterday afternoon kept several of Liz Truss’ closest allies in his top team in an olive branch to the right of the party.

Therese Coffey, was made Environment Secretary, while James Cleverly kept his job as Foreign Secretary, a role that was rumoured to be set aside for Penny Mordaunt, his rival for the leadership who pulled out late on Monday.

Ms Mordaunt, along with former leadership contender, Kemi Badenoch, both kept their jobs in the reshuffle.

Suella Braverman also made a shock return as Home Secretary after being forced to resign less than a week ago for a breach of the ministerial code before backing Mr Sunak.

The new Prime Minister kept the support of a key Johnson ally in the form of Ben Wallace, who had previously threatened to resign as Defence Secretary if he was not guaranteed an increase in armed forces spending.

In a clear message to his party Mr Sunak also appointed key ministers from the Boris Johnson administration, as he used his first speech to make clear that he had inherited the mandate of the 2019 election campaign.

Michael Gove has been brought back as Levelling Up Secretary, as well as Steve Barclay, who has been appointed to a previous role as Health Secretary.

Key allies of Mr Sunak were also rewarded with cabinet jobs, but to a lesser extent than his predecessor Ms Truss, where her unwillingness to appoint Mr Sunak’s backers to her to team had a severe effect on party discipline.

Grant Shapps was made Business Secretary, replacing Jacob Rees-Mogg, one of the main proponents of fracking in the North, while Dominic Raab was returned to his old jobs as Justice Secretary and Deputy Prime Minister and Mark Harper was appointed as Transport Secretary.

The move to keep all the factions of his party happy did however see two prominent Northern MPs removed from the cabinet.

Both Jake Berry and Simon Clarke were sacked from their party chairman and Levelling Up Secretary roles, leaving just one cabinet minister, Ben Wallace, representing a northern seat joining Rishi Sunak at the cabinet table as of last night.

Questions also remain over whether Mr Sunak will appoint a Minister for the North who attends cabinet, a key campaign pledge that he signed up to when seeking support from the Northern Research Group of Tory MPs.

After taking decisive steps to repair the unity of his party, Rishi Sunak faces tough decisions on the economy.

Deciding to keep Jeremy Hunt as his Chancellor, the new Prime Minister is now set to work with him on the medium-term fiscal plan which is being produced by the Treasury.

The plan will aim to both steady the turmoil in the economy, caused by global pressures and the fall-out from Liz Truss’ mini-budget, as well as repair the Conservative’s reputation for financial responsibility, which has fallen far behind the Labour Party in recent weeks.

“Right now our country is facing a profound economic crisis,” Mr Sunak said during his speech outside Downing Street yesterday. All I can say is that I am not daunted.”

Despite the bleak economic outlook, the value of the pound rallied to its highest levels since before Liz Truss’ mini budget, while 68 per cent of voters expected Mr Sunak to be better than Ms Truss, according to YouGov polling.

The reception of the opposition, ahead of a clash between Mr Sunak and Sir Keir Starmer at Prime Minister’s Questions later today, was less positive.

Sir Keir said that Mr Sunak will be a “weak” Prime Minister who will always have to put the interests of the Tory Party before those of the country. Addressing the Shadow Cabinet, the Labour leader said Mr Sunak has only ever fought one leadership election battle his entire life when he “got thrashed” by Ms Truss.