Sunak announces his government team with many familiar faces

Hunt takes up the challenge of a new economic route and Braverman returns to Interior six days after breaching security protocols

Labor criticizes the presence of "the old faces of Johnson's cabinet" in the new British Government

MADRID, 25 Oct. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The new British Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, announced his next government team on Tuesday in which some names already present in previous executives are repeated, such as the case of Dominic Raab, a minister with Boris Johnson as 'premier'.

Raab, former Foreign Minister, returns to the Government as Deputy Prime Minister and as head of Justice. His name already seemed clear in the pools, given the loyalty he has professed to Sunak in recent months, in his various attempts to reach Downing Street.

Among those who repeat, the head of Finance, Jeremy Hunt, responsible for dismantling the tax reform of former Prime Minister Liz Truss and who next week will unveil the economic 'road map' of the newly inaugurated administration, stands out.

Likewise, Suella Braverman, who resigned from her duties as Minister of the Interior in the Truss Government after acknowledging having breached the security protocols, has been reappointed as head of this same portfolio.

In his resignation letter, Braverman acknowledged having made a "mistake" in his duties and lashed out at Truss, saying he had "broken key commitments promised to voters." He now returns to the portfolio of the Interior and will be in charge of immigration policy and the fight against terrorism.

Foreign and Defense Ministers James Cleverly and Ben Wallace also retain their posts. Both portfolios are key in British policies regarding the war in Ukraine, where there has been continuity in recent months regardless of who was in Downing Street.

In addition to Hunt, Cleverly and Wallace, Michelle Donelan and Kemi Badenoch also hold their positions as Heads of Culture, Media and Sports and International Trade, respectively. Badenoch will also lead the Women and Equality policies.

Grant Shapps changes the Interior for Business, while the deputy Nadhim Zahawi, responsible for Finance in the final stage of Boris Johnson, will act as minister without portfolio. Gillian Keegan, for her part, will serve as Minister of Education; while Melvin Stride, former leader of the House of Commons, will be in charge of the Ministry of Work and Pensions.

Likewise, the former British deputy prime minister with Liz Truss, Thérèse Coffey, has been appointed by Sunak as head of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. During the Johnson administration and his predecessor, Theresa May, she also led the management of environmental policies.

Steve Barclay, a former deputy prime minister under Johnson, has been appointed as health minister, while Michael Gove, a former justice minister, will serve as housing and intergovernmental relations minister, Downing Street has reported.

Finally, Sunak has once again trusted Chris Heaton-Harris as Minister of State for Northern Ireland, just as Alister Jack will once again be in charge of the Government for Scotland. David Davies, meanwhile, has been appointed to carry out the same tasks but in Wales.

In the House of Commons, the deputy Simon Hart will from now on be in charge of putting order in the 'tory' parliamentary group, as coordinator of a bench that in recent weeks has been anything but united, with public clashes on account of the policies of the previous government.

For her part, Penny Mordaunt, who ran for the Conservative Party primaries but withdrew her candidacy at the last minute after not receiving the necessary support, has been re-elected as President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons.

For the Ministry of the Privy Seal -one of the departments considered 'without portfolio'--, Sunak has decided to continue trusting Nicholas True, Johnson's former chief of staff and whom Truss trusted as lord. Also, True will be the leader of the House of Lords.

Sunak has become this Tuesday the 57th prime minister in the country's history and the youngest to hold the position in the last two centuries. He is the third tenant of Downing Street this year, after a brief internal selection process that began on Thursday last week, when Truss announced his resignation.

From the opposition, the shadow minister for Work and Pensions, Jonathan Ashworth, has lamented that, although Johnson's return to Downing Street did not materialize, his ministerial cabinet is back.

According to Labor, Sunak has drawn on "the old faces of Johnson's cabinet" to form what will be his new government, a team that, he says, is made up of some of those responsible for the economic problems that the United Kingdom is dealing with. .

In Sunak's cabinet there are a total of ten ministers who have already served at the head of different portfolios under Johnson's mandate: Raab, Cleverly, Wallace, Dowden, Shapps, Keegan, Coffey, Barclay, Gove and Donelan, according to the BBC .

Likewise, the figure of Braverman also stands out, whose resignation and almost immediate reassignment as Minister of the Interior just six days later can serve the Labor Party to channel its criticism.