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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Politics
Andrew Sparrow, Nadia Khomami and Mark Smith

David Miliband rules himself out of Labour leadership - as it happened

David Miliband speaks out and rules himself out of the Labour leadership contest.
David Miliband speaks out and rules himself out of the Labour leadership contest. Photograph: Miliband

Nadia Khomami’s evening summary

David Cameron kicked off the first weekday of his second term by appointing a shiny new cabinet, which isn’t a bad way to start a new job. The senior roles remain largely unchanged: George Osborne remains as chancellor, Theresa May remains as home secretary, Philip Hammond remains as foreign secretary, Jeremy Hunt remains as health secretary, Nicky Morgan remains as education secretrary, and Iain Duncan Smith remains as work and pensions secretary.

But of the changes, the most notable are Michael Gove as justice secretary (as previously announced), Sajid Javid – who many have billed to be Cameron’s successor - as business secretary, John Whittingdale as culture secretary, Tina Stowell as leader of the House of Lords, Anna Soubry as minister for small business, Amber Rudd as energy secretary, and Priti Patel as minister for employment. Boris Johnson will also attend the political cabinet as the mayor of London.

What stands out is that Cameron’s new cabinet has a higher number of ministers from working-class/state school backgrounds. There are also more women, a sign that the prime minister is fully intent on modernising his party.

The big picture

In between announcements, Cameron found time to address the Conservative backbench 1922 Committee in a packed out room in the House of Commons, where there was plenty of cheering and desk banging. The prime minister then posed with his new MPs, choosing to stand next to the ones who were successful in beating Ed Balls, Mark Reckless and Vince Cable.

David Cameron poses for a photo with the newly elected Conservative Party MPs in Palace Yard on May 11, 2015 in London, England.
David Cameron poses for a photo with the newly elected Conservative Party MPs in Palace Yard on May 11, 2015 in London, England. Photograph: WPA Pool/Getty Images

No doubt Cameron was eager to make full use of the photo op – the future is not exactly going to be plain sailing for him. He now needs to focus on the two big challenges of his second term: keeping the union together and keeping Europe united. As he told his MPs this morning:

We will also renew our relationship with Europe, ensuring that we get a better deal for the British people – culminating in an in/out referendum. And we will renew our Union – showing respect to all four parts of our country, while recognising we are stronger together as the United Kingdom.

We are the party of one nation – and that is the way we will govern.

What happened today

Quote of the day

“The YouGov poll, the level pegging poll, I’m going to sue them for my ulcers” – David Cameron on the stresses of the general election campaign.

Laugh of the day

Ed Miliband’s getaway trip to Ibiza and the memes that followed:

Tomorrow’s agenda

Expect further updates on the Tories’ manifesto pledges and who the next Labour leader will be. There will also be revelations around the responsibility of new cabinet members, as well as debate around the EU and Scotland.

That’s it from me for today. Join the Guardian’s election team tomorrow morning, as we bring you the latest news, reaction, analysis, pictures, and video in the aftermath of the election.

Updated

Summary of Parliamentary Labour meeting – summary

Harriet Harman

“We have got to look deep in our souls, but we shouldn’t open our veins,” said Harriet Harman, the acting leader of the Labour party, as she implored her colleagues to stop bloodletting after the party’s loss and the resignation of Ed Miliband.

She paid tribute to the former Labour leader during the well-attended party meeting (see 18:17pm) and set out three options for the leadership election that will be determined by the National Executive Committee (NEC) on wednesday– which doesn’t include an announcement during party conference like five years ago:

  1. A short campaign with the result decided on July 31
  2. A longer-term campaign with the new leader chosen one or two weeks before conference
  3. Using conference as a final hustings with a ballot after that.

A spokesperson told reporters Harman issued a “stern message” to any leadership candidates, telling them to use their media opportunities to “prosecute and attack” the Government.

MPs were also told Ms Harman had commissioned a “forensic analysis” of what went wrong and warned there was “frustration” at the amount of commentating that had been going on.

She also praised him for putting inequality back on the agenda.

Here’s a quick twitter round-up from the meeting:

Updated

Cameron has just announced Grant Shapps’ new role:

Our BritainThinks focus group’s verdict on the election results

Below are some of the thoughts from our focus group (see 2:49pm) on Ed Miliband’s leadership and Labour’s loss in the aftermath of the election result:

Updated

#FarageSequels has taken off on twitter, as observers react to the Ukip leader’s non-resignation.

Then Alex Andreou kicked things off on the social media site this afternoon:

While others chipped in:

And here’s a list of favourites:

Updated

The cabinet - full list

Here is a list of all of the new cabinet members.

  • Prime Minister: David Cameron
  • Chancellor of the Exchequer and First Secretary of State: George Osborne
  • Home Secretary: Theresa May
  • Foreign Secretary: Philip Hammond
  • Justice Secretary and Lord Chancellor: Michael Gove
  • Health Secretary: Jeremy Hunt
  • Education Secretary: Nicky Morgan
  • Defence Secretary: Michael Fallon
  • Work and Pensions Secretary: Iain Duncan Smith
  • Leader of the House of Commons: Chris Grayling
  • Leader of the House of Lords: Baroness Stowell of Beeston
  • Business Secretary: Sajid Javid
  • Culture Secretary: John Whittingdale
  • Environment Secretary: Liz Truss
  • Energy Secretary: Amber Rudd
  • Communities Secretary: Greg Clark
  • Transport Secretary: Patrick McLoughlin
  • International Development Secretary: Justine Greening
  • Scottish Secretary: David Mundell
  • Northern Ireland Secretary: Theresa Villiers
  • Welsh Secretary: Stephen Crabb
  • Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Cabinet Office Minister: Oliver Letwin
  • Chief Whip: Mark Harper
  • Minister for employment: Priti Patel
  • Minister without portfolio: Roberto Halfon
  • Mayor of London: Boris Johnson
  • Minister for small business: Anna Soubry
  • Chief Secretary to the Treasury: Greg Hands
  • Cabinet Office Minister and Paymaster General: Matt Hancock

Our Guardian interactive is a handy guide to who each of them are.

Updated

The new chief secretary to the treasury, Greg Hands, has some news:

In case you were wondering...

It would appear some Labour members aren’t feeling so patient with regards to the results of the leadership contest.

Jeremy Wright will remain as Attorney General, David Cameron has announced. Wright was originally appointed to the position in July 2014.

Updated

Harriet Harman is reportedly explaining the new leadership election rules to the PLP. She says the party needs to listen long and hard to the candidates who lost and draw on what they were told by the electorate.

You don’t need to listen to Peter Mandelson, he is not properly factually informed [on the leadership voting system].

Updated

More from the PLP meeting (I’ll post a summary when it ends):

Updated

Parliamentary Labour Party meeting takes place

There’s currently a Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP) meeting taking place. The meeting is being held in the exact same committee room that hosted the Tory 1922 committee meeting earlier today. Regardless of that fact, Twitter tells me the mood is somewhat upbeat.

Updated

Nigel Farage has written about his decision to stay on as Ukip leader in the Telegraph. Farage says he decided that as much as he wanted to spend the summer fishing, walking, “and of course, in the European Parliament”, he owed it to the party to return.

I had promised in my book, the Purple Revolution, that if I lost in the South Thanet constituency, I would stand down as Ukip leader. This might have accounted for how much negativity the Labour Party, the Conservative Party, and the trade unions threw at me in that seat over the past few months.

And I’m a man of my word. It was only about 20 minutes after the results in South Thanet had come in, that I stood on the cliffs outside the Botany Bay Hotel, surrounded by the nation’s media, and confirmed that I would be handing my resignation to the National Executive Committee today. What followed was something that had crossed my mind, but that I had never truly expected.

Tristram Hunt, one of three Labour modernisers hoping to stand for the leadership, has written in the Guardian about Labour’s need to regain the trust of the working class. Hunt says his party needs to understand not just how it failed to find an aspirational economic message, but also to appreciate the sense of loss and dislocation many traditional working-class communities have felt over the past two decades.

Cameron has made another announcement - Francis Maude, the former cabinet office minister, will become Trade Minister.

Updated

Theresa May has hardened Britain’s refusal to accept the mandatory European Union refugee quota system being put forward in Brussels this week in response to the Mediterranean migrant boat crisis.

The Home Office previously said it will refuse to accept any refugees under this week’s proposed EU emergency resettlement programme. It’s now added that it will also refuse to take part in any future permanent EU system to relocate asylum seekers who make it across the Mediterranean or to resettle refugees from outside Europe.

Updated

Here’s a clip of David Miliband criticising his brother Ed’s election approach on the BBC earlier.

Updated

Labour MP Jamie Reed is considering throwing his hat into the ring for leadership of the party. Reed said he’ll enter the race if no candidate stands who he feels represents “marginalised, peripheral communities of our country”.

As the MP for England’s most remotely accessible constituency from Westminster, I know more than most the serious lessons Labour must learn from this catastrophic defeat.

Principally, our approach to peripheral areas and non-metropolitan communities has to be fundamentally reassessed, as does our approach to England. London is not England and the next Labour leader needs to listen to the marginalised, peripheral communities of our country as the United Kingdom ‘balkanises’ in front of us.

A successful Labour Party must always seek to reach beyond special interests and the Labour base. I’m surprised and flattered to have received approaches from colleagues with regard to entering this contest. There should be no rush to elect a new leader and I will set out those areas I believe the party needs to address as part of its central mission in the following days and weeks.

At this moment, I have no intention of standing for the leadership, but these issues are so critical to the future of our county and our party that should no candidate give these issues the attention they deserve, then I will consider entering the contest to ensure that these voices are heard.

Further minsterial announcements

David Cameron has made some further announcements about his government:

Updated

Here’s what the Twitter commentariat had to say about David Miliband’s interview.

From the BBC’s Sam Macrory:

From the New Statesman’s George Eaton:

From the Times’ Philip Webster:

From the Spectator’s Isabel Hardman:

From Ed Miliband biographer Mehdi Hasan:

From the Daily Beast’s Nico Hines:

From the Independent’s Steve Richards:

From the FT’s Jim Pickard:

From the Independent on Sunday’s Jane Merrick:

Updated

David Miliband rules himself out of Labour leadership - summary

Miliband

In his first interview after Labour’s abysmal electoral defeat on Thursday, David Miliband has said he had no plans of taking over as Labour leader.

  • Speaking to the BBC, Miliband said Thursday’s election was “devastating” and “the result everyone always fears.” He said that not enough effort had gone into wooing the middle classes.

There’s no point in blaming the electorate, they didn’t want what was being offered. Both in 2010 and 2015 Gordon Brown And Ed allowed themselves to be portrayed as moving backwards from the principals of aspiration and inclusion that are the absolute heart of any successful progressive political project. The answer is not to go back, the answer is to address the issues of the future. Either we build on what Labour achieved after 1997 and we have a chance to succeed, or we abandon it and we fail.

  • Miliband said progressive politics is about the middle class and working class. Labour should set out to embrace people, not divide them. “The lesson of the election is we failed to do that,” he said.
  • Miliband said he’s “clearly not a candidate in this leadership election.” He said he was busy in New York running a global charity, and the commitment he has to his job doesn’t change as a result of the election. “I hope friends and colleagues in the UK will take up the mantle of a dynamic of progressive politics.” He said he might be freer to contribute to that because there “wont be a soap opera” around him and his brother.
  • He said this was always going to be his decision. “I’ve made a commitment here that I’m only 18 months into. The passion I have for Labour is as strong of ever, but I’m not a member of parliament. I took the decision to not be part of the soap opera.” He said he hopes people can now listen to what he has to say.
  • Miliband said he’s spoken to his brother. “I think many of the attacks on him were unpleasant and unfair and I think he dealt with them with enormous dignity and courage.” He added: “you remain brothers for life and that’s something that has to be kept”.
  • When asked whether Labour sowed the seeds of its defeat by electing his brother as leader, Miliband said there’s no point looking backwards.

There’s no point in trying to press the rewind button. You don’t get the chance to rewind the tape, its important not to fall into that trap.

  • He said he hoped that a range of candidates will come forward for leader. He didn’t endorse anyone, but said there should be no delusion about what happened and why it happened.

Updated

David Miliband has ruled himself out of the Labour leadership contest. He Labour should return to “progressive politics”.

David Miliband is to be interviewed on the BBC News Channel now. I’ll post updates of that as and when it happens.

John Haynes will be joining the Home Office as minister of state for security. Haynes was appointed Minister of State for Energy in 2012, and in March 2013 he was appointed Minister without Portfolio at the Cabinet Office and Senior Parliamentary Adviser to the Prime Minister. He was later appointed to the Privy Council in April 2013 and became Minister of State for Transport in July 2014.

Updated

A reader has pointed out that Labour is not the only party experiencing a rise in membership numbers (see 12:25pm). The Lib Dems have got 5,000 new members since Thursday’s poll.

UPDATE: This figure is now 8,000.

Updated

Mark Francois becomes communities minister

David Cameron has made two further cabinet announcements: Mark Francois will become minister of state at the Department for Communities and Local Government, and Penny Mordaunt will become armed forces finister.

Updated

Hello, I’m taking over from Andrew for the rest of the day. I’m on Twitter @nadiakhomami and I’ll be reading your comments below the line as well, so feel free to direct me towards any political news you think I’ve missed.

Stay tuned as we round up all the speculation and analysis from this afternoon’s cabinet reshuffle.

The Times’s Tim Montgomerie thinks Nigel Farage may be a Brussels plant.

On that (unlikely) note, I’m now handing over to my colleague Nadia Khomami.

Ros Altmann becomes pensions minister

David Cameron has announced that Ros Altmann, the pensions expert and former head of Saga, will join the government as pensions minister. She is not an MP, so she will become a peer. Unfortunately, whoever writes Cameron’s tweets hasn’t spelt her surname correctly.

The Tories said she would be made a minister if they won during the election, although at that point it was said she would be minister for consumer protection, charged in particular with tackling age discrimination in the mortgage market.

More from the reshuffle.

If Labour will see its “Short money” get a bit shorter after losing 24 seats last week, the Scottish National party’s landslide result will see its Westminster funding mushroom by some 550% after the general election.

It stands to get close to £1.2m a year in official funding from the short money system to fund opposition parties, up from £182,000 last year, based on last year’s formula for calculating the cash.

With having 56 MPs – a tenfold rise on the six it won in 2010 – the SNP will get about £935,000 a year and by winning 1.45m votes it will receive another £242,400 a year. Those figures will increase automatically slightly with retail prices. They do not include, of course, funding for each MP’s offices and staff – income which will further boost each MP’s reach and influence.

Updated

The government reshuffle isn’t as amusing as the Ukip one, but it is still going on.

Sean Kemp, a former Lib Dem special adviser, has a good line on Nigel Farage’s unresignation.

Here is Damian Carrington, the Guardian’s head of environment, on Liz Truss’s reappointment as environment secretary.

Liz Truss, who was promoted to environment secretary after Owen Paterson’s sacking in July 2014, is to continue in the post. Truss has been an enthusiastic backer of British farmers and food but has been much less vocal on the natural environment.

Truss has said the highly controversial badger cull will be rolled out more widely. Most farmers support the cull, aimed at curbing tuberculosis in cattle, but scientists have declared it ineffective. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs was heavily cut in by the coalition and, as an unprotected department, faces further cuts. With the large flood defence budget now set till 2020, other areas are likely to suffer.

Updated

Here is Suzanne Evans responding to the news that she is no longer Ukip’s acting leader.

Greg Hands as chief secretary to the Treasury - Snap analysis

Greg Hands has been moved from the position of deputy chief whip to be chief secretary to the treasury, taking Danny Alexander’s old job. Many expected the position to go to Matthew Hancock, who has instead been made Cabinet Office minister.

The appointment is a significant promotion for Hands, the MP for Chelsea and Fulham, who went to grammar school before studying history at Cambridge University. He worked on trading floors for 10 years in the City of London and on Wall Street, first becoming a Conservative councillor in Fulham in 1998.

Hands served as shadow Treasury minister from January 2009 to May 2010, and was appointed to be parliamentary private secretary to chancellor George Osborne after the last general election.

Hands is said to speak Czech, French, German and Slovak. Hands took a gap year in West Berlin, during which time he developed a strong interest in eastern Europe. Already fluent in German and French, he also learned Czech and Slovak, spending spells in Prague during his university holidays.

Updated

What Nigel Farage said in the past about resigning

This is what Nigel Farage said about standing down as Ukip leader if he did not win a seat in parliament before the election.

In his book The Purple Revolution, published in March.

The consequences of me failing to secure a seat for myself in the Commons would be significant for both myself and the party.

It is frankly just not credible for me to continue to lead the party without a Westminster seat.

During the campaign, in the Daily Mirror.

This is my Becher’s Brook. If I don’t win, I will be a failure. I’ve achieved quite a lot in the last few years, but this one matters.

I would have to think seriously about the future – but that’s not what I’m contemplating. And, hey, all the party leaders could be gone after 7 May!

This is what Farage said on Friday, when he did not win his seat.

Farage also said:

I have just resigned as leader of Ukip. I have kept my promise. I have honoured what I said. I shall write to the NEC [national executive committee] in a minute. I shall recommend we put a caretaker leader in.

And this is what he said today.

Nigel Farage unresigns - Twitter reaction

And here is some Twitter reaction to Nigel Farage unresigning.

From the Guardian’s Alberto Nardelli

From the Guardian’s Patrick Wintour

From BuzzFeed’s Jamie Ross

From the Daily Mail’s James Chapman

From the Guardian’s Jamie Grierson

From Bloomberg’s Thomas Penny

From Macolm Harvey, a researcher

From the Times’s Tim Montgomerie

From the former Tory MP Louise Mensch

Updated

Here is Nigel Farage on his non-resignation.

Nigel Farage withdraws his resignation as Ukip leader after members demand he stays

Nigel Farage’s resignation as Ukip leader did not last long. The party has just sent out this statement from Steve Crowther, the Ukip chairman.

Nigel Farage, leader of the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP) stands on stage as the results of the vote are read out.
Nigel Farage, leader of UKIP stands on stage as the results of the vote are read out. Photograph: Suzanne Plunkett/Reuters

As promised Nigel Farage tendered his official resignation as leader of Ukip to the NEC. This offer was unanimously rejected by the NEC members who produced overwhelmingly evidence that the Ukip membership did not want Nigel to go.

The NEC also concluded that Ukip’s general election campaign had been a great success. We have fought a positive campaign with a very good manifesto and despite relentless, negative attacks and an astonishing last minute swing to the Conservatives over fear of the SNP, that in these circumstances, 4 million votes was an extraordinary achievement. On that basis Mr Farage withdrew his resignation and will remain leader of Ukip. In addition the NEC recognised that the referendum campaign has already begun this week and we need our best team to fight that campaign led by Nigel. He has therefore been persuaded by the NEC to withdraw his resignation and remains leader of Ukip.

Updated

Matt Hancock, a former chief of staff to George Osborne, is going to be made a Cabinet Office minister in charge of efficiency and civil service reform. This was the job held by costcutter-in-chief Francis Maude, who retired as an MP at the election. It gives Hancock a significant influence on Whitehall belt-tightening – areas that the chancellor will want to have a close eye on as he seeks to eliminate the deficit.

Matthew Hancock.

Aged just 36, Hancock for a time worked at the Bank of England but has spent most of his career in politics at Osborne’s side and later as a minister. Under the coalition, his briefs were business and energy, where he attracted criticism for taking a private plane back from climate talks in Scotland and accepting donations from a key backer of climate change sceptics.

Updated

Matthew Hancock moves from business to the Cabinet Office

Matthew Hancock, the skills minister, has been moved sideways. He was a minister of state in the business department, with the right to attend cabinet, and now he is a minister of state at the Cabinet Office, still attending cabinet.

Oliver Letwin as head of Cabinet Office - Snap analysis

Oliver Letwin.

Oliver Letwin enjoyed the title of “minister for government policy” in the last parliament. He will effectively carry on doing the same job, although David Cameron has promoted him, making him a full member of the cabinet.

All ministers have some sort of responsibility for government policy, but Letwin was the man who pulled it all together and (supposedly) ironed out any contradictions and inconsistencies. Cameron describes him as the government’s “mainframe computer”. Immensely clever, but also personable, self-effacing and even at times giggly, Letwin has been charged with resolving disputes between departments and, in the coalition, he was a key link man with the Liberal Democrats. He developed a particularly warm relationship with Danny Alexander; they used to speak on the phone every Sunday to resolve upcoming coalition difficulties.

Letwin’s role was largely a backroom one, and this is likely to continue. Although highly cerebral, Letwin is also regarded as slightly unworldly, and his dealings with the media have not always worked out well. He was shadow chief secretary to the Treasury before the 2001 election, but had to spend part of the campaign being kept away from journalists after being named as the source of a briefing saying Tory plans for cuts went far beyond what the party was publicly acknowledging.

Updated

David Mundell as communities secretary - Snap analysis

David Mundell is the only Tory MP with a seat in Scotland so really the only possible choice for what will be a difficult job in charge of negotiating devolution with the SNP and trying to hold together the union.

David Mundell

Mundell has been in the Scotland Office for a while as a minister so this means a promotion to replace his old Lib Dem boss, Alistair Carmichael. First on the agenda will be sorting out which tax powers will be handed to Holyrood. It is difficult for the Conservatives to claim much of a mandate in Scotland given that 56 out of 59 MPs in the country now belong to the SNP, but, for what it’s worth, the Lib Dems and Labour also only have one each left.

Before entering politics as an MSP and MP, Mundell was a solicitor who worked for BT. Not a great deal has been written about his politics but he was for a period a member of the SDP during the Thatcher era and an interview with the Herald says he is nicknamed Fluffy for his warm approachability.

Updated

Here’s a Guardian video of David Cameron posing with his new MPs.

This is from my colleague Rupert Neate.

David Mundell becomes Scottish secretary

David Mundell, the Scotland Office minister, becomes Scottish secretary.

Updated

Scottish Labour officials have denied the party’s catastrophic losses in the general election will have a similarly devastating effect on the party’s finances, because Scottish Labour’s “short money” – its official opposition party funding from Westminster – will be cut.

Party officials say Scottish Labour’s employees and political staff are paid for by central UK Labour funding, as well as Scottish parliament “Short money” worth £280,000 in 2013-14, and the party’s own fundraising.

Losing 40 of its 41 Scottish MPs last Thursday will impact on UK Labour’s overall short money funding, which hit £6.7m in 2014-15, but that money goes into its Westminster and central operations, not directly to Scotland.

Party officials said losing 24 MPs overall last Thursday will only see its Westminster short money fall by about 10%, because its English election gains partly offset the cataclysm in Scotland.

The rout will see the party lose some staff: two senior press staff were employed through former shadow Scottish secretary Margaret Curran, who lost her Glasgow East seat. But Scottish Labour’s head of media, David Whitton, was on a temporary contract which ended on election day. But chief of staff John McTernan and other central office staff will remain in post.

There remains a question about Scottish leader Jim Murphy’s financial future after he lost his East Renfrewshire seat and his MP’s salary: his leader’s post is unsalaried. The party is reluctant to discuss how he can earn a salary and remain leader.

Updated

Greg Hands becomes chief secretary to the Treasury

Greg Hands has been made chief secretary to the Treasury. But, judging from David Cameron’s tweet, he has not been given full cabinet status, because Cameron is making a point of saying he will attend cabinet.

Updated

Stephen Crabb remains as Welsh secretary

Stephen Crabb is staying as Welsh secretary.

It did not take long for the mystery of Eric Pickles’ new job to be solved. (See 2.50pm.) This is from the Daily Mail’s James Chapman.

Oliver Letwin, the Cabinet Office minister and minister for government policy, has been promoted.

Greg Clark as communities secretary - Snap analysis

Greg Clark.
Greg Clark.

Greg Clark is likely to be pleased with his new job as communities and local government secretary as he has long spoken passionately about this policy area. He was in the shadow cabinet before the arrival of the coalition meant he got a series of more junior ministerial jobs for decentralisation, financial secretary to the Treasury, constitution and finally universities. Throughout most of that time, he clung on to the cities portfolio.

He is yet another appointment from the liberal centrist wing of the party but well liked and regarded as a competent brain by his colleagues. Clark also appears to be a genuine enthusiast about devolution, something chancellor George Osborne has recently embraced with his Northern Powerhouse agenda.

Before politics, he worked as a management consultant and for the BBC as head of commercial policy.

Updated

Eric Pickles, the outgoing communities secretary, has been tweeting about his replacement, Greg Clark. (See 2.22pm.)

Maybe Clark will do a fanastic jog; no one ever saw Pickles going on one.

Updated

Jeremy Hunt is staying as health secretary.

Updated

Anna Soubry as minister for small business - Snap analysis

Anna Soubry.
Anna Soubry.

Anna Soubry was probably never expecting to have a ministerial career in this parliament. Elected MP for Broxtowe in 2010 with a majority of 389, she was eighth on Labour’s list of target seats, and constituency polls suggested she was going to lose. In fact, she was re-elected last week with a majority of more than 4,000.

A former regional television presenter and a barrister, Soubry originally got involved in Conservative politics in the 1970s (she was the only Tory on the executive of the National Union of Students), spent some time in the SDP in the 1980s, and was fast-tracked for selection as a Tory candidate after being put on the “A list” under David Cameron.

She was tipped for promotion from the moment she arrived in the Commons and joined the government as a health minister in 2012. What distinguishes her most from other ambitious colleagues is her outspokenness, brave or reckless according to taste. She once took on Nigel Farage on Question Time with a ferocity that impressed colleagues, but later prompted slightly different reactions when she said that Farage looked like “somebody has put their finger up his bottom and he really rather likes it”. She also complained in an interview that she was made public health minister because David Cameron had stereotypically decided that that portfolio was a “soft, girly option” appropriate for a woman. Cameron responded by making her a defence minister where she prospered, perhaps because the MoD is a place where bluntness goes down well.

Updated

Our BritainThinks focus group’s verdict on the election results

What do the real voters think? We have 60 in five key seats giving their view throughout the election as part of our polling project with BritainThinks. They each have an app and are telling us what they think of stories as they crop up.

Below are some of their thoughts in the aftermath of the election result – from shock and disappointment to feeling satisfied with the Tory win:

Nicola Sturgeon and her cohort of SNP MPs have their pictures taken outside the Palace of Westminster.
Nicola Sturgeon and her cohort of SNP MPs have their pictures taken outside the Palace of Westminster. Photograph: Neil Hall/Reuters

Justine Greening (DfID) and Theresa Villiers (NIO) keep jobs

Two more continuity appointments.

Updated

Greg Clark becomes communities secretary

Greg Clark, the universities minister, has replaced Eric Pickles as communities secretary.

Anna Soubry becomes minister for small business

Anna Soubry moves from defence to become minister of state for small business, with the right to attend cabinet, David Cameron has confirmed.

The new Conservative MPs are holding a photocall now outside the House of Commons.

David Cameron directs the arrangement of his new MPs during a photocall outside the Palace of Westminster.
David Cameron directs the arrangement of his new MPs during a photocall outside the Palace of Westminster. Photograph: WPA Pool/Getty Images

Updated

Here is another picture from the Conservative 1922 Committee meeting earlier.

Updated

Liz Truss is staying as environment secretary.

Patrick McLoughlin to remain as transport secretary

And Patrick McLoughlin is staying as transport secretary.

My colleague Libby Brooks has been watching Nicola Sturgeon’s appearance on the ITV chatshow Loose Women, where the SNP leader faced hard-hitting questions on what she wears at home and how she deals with being on TV all the time.

But she did also say that David Cameron had no right to rule out a second independence referendum for Scotland within this parliament, which he did on Channel 4 News yesterday.

Updated

David Cameron has confirmed that Iain Duncan Smith is staying as work and pensions secretary.

Eric Pickles is going to be replaced as communities secretary, according to ITV.

Updated

Norman Lamb has confirmed that he is going to stand for the Lib Dem leadership.

He will almost certainly be up against Tim Farron. The leaders of the Scottish and Welsh arms of the Lib Dems have today issued a joint statement saying Farron should stand, but Farron is still refusing to confirm that he will be a candidate. This is what he said about this when asked on the Today programme this morning.

I take the view that we’re a party that’s different to others, does things from the bottom up, not from the top down, so my job over the next day or two is to listen to other people’s views ... I’m in a situation where I am, to coin a phrase, ruling nothing in and ruling nothing out.

Amber Rudd's appointment as energy secretary - Damian Carrington's analysis

My colleague Damian Carrington, the Guardian’s head of environment, has written an analysis of Amber Rudd’s appointment as energy secretary. Here’s an excerpt.

At the very least, those concerned about global warming and the green economy can take heart from the fact that David Cameron has not appointed a climate change sceptic as secretary of state for the Department of Energy and Climate Change (he has form). Amber Rudd says climate science is “compelling” and has spoken strongly of the need for a strong deal at a crunch UN summit in Paris in December.

But there appears to be much more to be optimistic about than that, with her appointment meeting with broad approval from green business and campaigners. Firstly, she was climate change minister for almost a year before the election, meaning she can hit the ground running in the tortuous but crucial climate change negotiations.

One government insider told me she is “really green and no-nonsense” and can get things done, adding that her past experience as an investment banker and businesswoman will be useful in delivering the huge investment needed in the energy sector.

The key will be whether energy and climate change policy is run from Decc or the Treasury. Rudd was first elected as an MP in 2010 and rose quickly, becoming a parliamentary private secretary to chancellor George Osborne and then assistant whip. Being relatively close to the chancellor will be vital in getting Rudd’s energy policies through, but another former Decc minister and windfarm opponent, Matt Hancock, is said to be closer to the chancellor.

Whittingdale believes public service case for Strictly Come Dancing is 'debatable'

More on the new culture secretary.

Decca Aitkenhead interviewed John Whittingdale three years ago and concluded that he thought he would make a good culture secretary. Here’s an extract.

I’m pretty sure Whittingdale feels he would have made a good secretary of state for culture, and his personal tastes are certainly catholic. I ask if his legendary love of heavy metal has been overstated, and he giggles. “Er, well, no. Though I do like going to the ballet, and I like classical music too. And I was,” he adds, bursting out laughing, “a punk – for a time.” Are there photographic records of that phase? “Happily not! But I saw all sorts of bands, such as Sham 69, the Buzzcocks. The Stranglers are still a great love.” The last concert ticket he bought was for Deep Purple last year. What did he wear? He starts to grin. “I do still have one of those waistcoats with patches all over it, and a Motörhead skull on the back. But I don’t wear it now. Mainly because there would be people like you lurking everywhere. So no, I wear a pair of jeans and an open-necked shirt. I think I may have been known to wear an Iron Maiden T-shirt,” he adds coyly. “It has been known.”

John Whittingdale thinks that Strictly Come Dancing is far from 9/10 for a show on a public service broadcaster.
John Whittingdale thinks that Strictly Come Dancing is far from 9/10 for a show on a public service broadcaster. Photograph: BBC/Guy Levy

And this is what Whittingdale told my colleague Charlotte Higgins in an interview last year in response to questions about the licence fee. Whittingdale said:

I am a free market Conservative, and therefore begin with the presumption that the only things that should be in public ownership are things that have to be in public ownership, and generally things operate better if they are in private ownership and operate in a market. So the question is, do we need a BBC? And my answer to that has always been yes, because there are things which I think are in the public interest to have available for viewers but which would probably not be viable on a commercial basis, which is a definition of public service broadcasting. I mean people can argue, and my committees argue about what is public service broadcasting, but that is certainly one definition of public service broadcasting.

And it doesn’t just mean really, really sort of narrow programmes about, you know, Guatemalan hill tribes’ eating habits or whatever, I mean it does extend into high quality drama, quite risky material, certainly arts and culture. I mean news and current affairs at the core, religion, education, children ...

Is there a public service argument for Strictly? Debatable. Is there a public service argument for putting out Strictly at roughly the same time as ITV is running X Factor? No. The one thing in my view the BBC should not be thinking about is ratings, but they do because of the licence fee. That’s the problem.

I’m against the licence fee because it’s very regressive, it’s very expensive to collect, you get these ridiculous letters sort of threatening you with having your fingernails pulled out if you don’t admit that actually you’ve got a television hidden somewhere. And the level of evasion is pretty high, quite a number of people go to prison every year, failing to pay the fine.

Updated

Christian May, head of communications at the Institute of Directors, has welcomed the appointment of Sajid Javid - with a caveat:

Given that Javid comes from an immigrant family, he is likely to be more pro-immigrant than most of his cabinet colleagues, although this is not a subject on which he has spoken out in the past.

Updated

If you want to know what government jobs are available for David Cameron to fill, this is handy. It is a list of people resigning from the government because they left the Commons (William Hague), lost their seats (lots of Lib Dems) or because the Lib Dems are no longer in government (some Lib Dem peers).

Of course, the reshuffle will involve David Cameron moving ministers, not just filling the vacancies. But it does illustrate how many new government posts Cameron has got to offer. He could stage a major reshuffle without having to sack anyone.

Here is Amber Rudd arriving at the Department for Energy and Climate Change to take over as the new energy secretary.

And here is some reaction.

From John Sauven, executive director of Greenpeace UK

Amber Rudd’s appointment as secretary of state for energy and climate change is a hopeful sign that the government remains committed to implementing the Climate Change Act and achieving a strong international climate deal in Paris later this year. Ms Rudd was a key player in securing vital reforms to the EU common fisheries policy and championing a better deal for the UK’s local, sustainable fishing sector. We look forward to her bringing the same drive and ambition to securing the clean and efficient energy future Britain needs.

From Zac Goldsmith, the Conservative MP and environmentalist

Cruddas to head postmortem of Labour’s defeat

Sadiq Khan.
Sadiq Khan.

The other stories emerging from Labour’s shadow cabinet announcement are the senior figures who aren’t in it.

Sadiq Khan has resigned as shadow justice secretary – he is seeking the Labour nomination for London mayor – and has been replaced by Lord Falconer, who also assumes the role of shadow lord chancellor.

Meanwhile, Jon Cruddas, has stepped down as Labour’s policy review co-ordinator to head a postmortem on why the party was defeated so convincingly in the election.

Labourlist reports that the review – separate and independent from the party, leadership and individual leadership campaigns – will look at how the party (organisationally, politically and in policy terms) can rebuild in opposition. The website reports:

Cruddas is thought to already have the LGA and Compass on board with the review, and is approaching other groups, including the trade unions, in order to build broad support.

Updated

This is from the FT’s Jim Pickard.

Labour says that 20,000 people have joined the party since Thursday night, taking the membership to 221,247. Some 60% of the new members are under 35.

Harman announces Labour shadow cabinet

It’s not just the government that is reshuffling today – the caretaker Labour leader Harriet Harman has just announced the new shadow cabinet.

Chris Leslie.
Chris Leslie.

The headline news is that Chris Leslie has been appointed to fill the big shoes vacated by Ed Balls, who failed to win his Yorkshire seat in last week’s election. Leslie becomes shadow chancellor, and will be charged with resurrecting the party’s fiscal credibility and its broken relations with business (exemplified just minutes ago by Lord Sugar’s parting swipe as he severed ties with Labour). Leslie worked with Balls as shadow chief secretary to the Treasury.

Hilary Benn has been promoted from shadowing Eric Pickles’ communities department to replace Douglas Alexander – who also lost his seat – as shadow foreign secretary.

Andy Burnham, Yvette Cooper, Rachel Reeves, Chuka Umunna, Tristram Hunt and Vernon Coaker keep their jobs shadowing health, home affairs, work and pensions, business, education, and defence respectively.

Here’s the full list:

Leader of the opposition and acting leader of the Labour party
Harriet Harman MP

Shadow chancellor of the exchequer
Chris Leslie MP

Shadow foreign secretary
Hilary Benn MP

Shadow home secretary
Yvette Cooper MP

Shadow lord chancellor, shadow secretary of state for justice
Lord Falconer of Thoroton

Opposition chief whip
Rosie Winterton MP

Shadow secretary of state for health
Andy Burnham MP

Shadow secretary of state for business, innovation and skills
Chuka Umunna MP

Shadow secretary of state for work and pensions
Rachel Reeves MP

Shadow secretary of state for education
Tristram Hunt MP

Shadow secretary of state for defence
Vernon Coaker MP

Shadow secretary of state for communities and local government
Emma Reynolds MP

Shadow secretary of state for energy and climate change
Caroline Flint MP

Shadow leader of the House of Commons and chair of the national policy forum
Angela Eagle MP

Shadow secretary of state for transport
Michael Dugher MP

Shadow secretary of state for Northern Ireland
Ivan Lewis MP

Shadow secretary of state for international development
Mary Creagh MP

Shadow secretary of state for Scotland
Ian Murray MP

Shadow secretary of state for Wales
Owen Smith MP

Shadow secretary of state for environment, food and rural affairs
Maria Eagle MP

Shadow minister for the Cabinet Office
Lucy Powell MP

Shadow minister without portfolio and deputy party chair
Jon Trickett MP

Shadow minister for women and equalities
Gloria De Piero MP

Shadow secretary of state for culture, media and sport
Chris Bryant MP

Shadow chief secretary to the Treasury
Shabana Mahmood MP

Shadow leader of the House of Lords
Baroness Royall of Blaisdon

Lords chief whip
Lord Bassam of Brighton

Also attending shadow cabinet:

Shadow minister for care and older people
Liz Kendall MP
Shadow attorney general
Lord Bach

Updated

Sky’s Sophy Ridge has noticed who David Cameron is standing next to in the group photograph.

Chris Ship has written up David Cameron’s impromtu briefing with reporters before he went into the 1922 Committee meeting on his ITV blog.

Updated

The 1922 Committee meeting is over. David Cameron has been posing for a photograph with his new MPs.

Updated

Sugar says Labour's 'negative business policies' made him leave

In his statement Lord Sugar explains why he has left Labour.

In the past I found myself losing confidence in the party due to their negative business policies and the general anti-enterprise concepts they were considering if they were to be elected. I expressed this to the most senior figures in the party several times.

Sugar says that when Gordon Brown brought him into the party, it supported “true enterprise”. He says he decided to quit at the start of the year, but chose to keep this quiet until after the election because he did not want to damage the party. He had “no wish to stick the boot in”, he says.

Lord Sugar resigns from Labour

Lord Sugar has announced that he has left the Labour party.

Here’s my colleague Nicholas Watt on John Whittingdale’s appointment.

Tina Stowell as leader of the Lords - Snap analysis

Tina Stowell.
Tina Stowell.

Tina Stowell has been kept on as leader of the Lords and Lord Privy Seal, but has been made a full cabinet member. She was first appointed to the roles in July 2014, but was not made an official paid member of the cabinet, though was able to attend meetings.

Baroness Stowell of Beeston was born and brought up in the town, just outside of Nottingham, where she attended a comprehensive school. She moved to London aged 18 to join the civil service as a secretary and worked her way up to become deputy chief of staff at Conservative party HQ during William Hague’s tenure as party leader.

In 2013, as the government spokeswoman in the Lords for women and equalities, she was credited with successfully steering the same-sex marriage bill through the Lords. She told peers in a debate:

Perhaps I should declare from the outset that I am not married, and as long as George Clooney is still available I am prepared to wait. But even though I am single – and I of all people understand that not everyone wants to get married – I believe in the institution of marriage.

Updated

Boris Johnson attending political cabinet - Snap analysis

Boris Johnson had been dropping some little hints during the campaign about the possibility of a minor departmental job on the side from his job as mayor of London. In an interview with the House magazine, he said:

I could not run a big spending department at the same time as the mayoralty. I don’t see how that works, unless you sort of amalgamate it into ‘London and…’

Boris Johnson.
Boris Johnson.

The Telegraph even reported a year ago – long before Johnson had even been re-elected as an MP - that he was being lined up to be business secretary.

However, Cameron has given his fellow Etonian and rival the right to attend cabinet but no responsibility for a brief. This shows Cameron bringing Johnson inside the tent, but not yet in charge of anything significant. This could all change, of course, after the London mayor’s tenure ends next year when Johnson will probably expect to be rewarded for his relative loyalty during the election campaign.

Updated

Robert Halfon as Conservative deputy chairman - Snap analysis

David Cameron has reportedly called Robert Halfon the most expensive backbencher in the Commons because of the prominent role he has played in campaigning for a cut in fuel duty. But it is a mistake just to think of him as a tax-cutter, and, if he is given scope to pursue his ideas at CCHQ, his appointment could be one of the most significant this morning.

Robert Halfon.
Robert Halfon.

The MP for Harlow in Essex, and PPS to George Osborne, Halfon is a proponent of what he describes as blue-collar Conservatism. In part that is just small-state Thatcherism, but Halfon is also pro-union, in favour of increasing the minimum wage and anxious to ensure that people recognise a moral element within Conservatism. He set out his thinking last year in a powerful speech to a ConservativeHome conference.

Halfon was born with spastic diplegia and walks with the aid of crutches and this may help to explain his sympathy for the disadvantaged, although his disability is not a trait that he highlights. Born to a Jewish family in north London, he studied politics at Exeter University where he formed a close friendship with Sajid Javid, the new business secretary, Tim Montgomerie, the ConservativeHome founder and David Burrowes, the Conservative MP.

The Conservative deputy chairman normally takes a lead role in campaigning and Halfon has said he thinks cabinet ministers should take part in more Cameron Direct-style events. He is also going to serve as minister without portfolio in the Cabinet Office, and he will attend cabinet.

Updated

Desmond Swayne thinks his career as international development minister is over.

Updated

These 1922 committee meetings are supposed to be private, but two Tory MPs have tweeted pictures.

Sadly, there is no Periscope yet.

(If a journalist posted a picture from a Commons committee room on Twitter, they would probably be hauled out of the building. There are very strict rules about what can be photographed and filmed in the Commons, and journalists risk losing their passes if they break them.)

James Cook, the BBC’s Scotland correspondent, has this on a near-miss for Ed Miliband, which could have been excruciatingly awkward:

Updated

What David Cameron said as he arrived for the 1922 Committee meeting

Here is more from David Cameron at the 1922 Committee.

It’s interesting to see that he was making a minor joke at the expense of Boris Johnson.

And he says he’s going to sue YouGov for the ulcers they caused him.

Updated

David Cameron is addressing the Conservative backbench 1922 Committee in the House of Commons now.

The desk banging is traditional at 1922 meetings of this kind. It must be some boarding school thing.

Updated

John Whittingdale as culture secretary - Snap analysis

Veteran Tory MP John Whittingdale certainly knows the brief of cuture, media and sport, having served as chairman of the select committee throughout the last parliament. He has spent almost his whole life working in politics, in Tory HQ, as a special adviser and Margaret Thatcher’s political secretary but this is his first ministerial role – straight into cabinet.

During his time on the CMS committee, he gained a reputation for leading tough questioning of News International and the Murdochs over phone hacking. Some of his views on the industry are not without controversy, however. He is a longtime critic of the BBC licence fee and will now lead negotiations for the broadcaster’s charter renewal next year.

Last year, it was reported that he told BBC bosses including James Harding, the director of news and current affairs, and Peter Horrocks, the head of the World Service:

I don’t think the licence fee will survive. There are lots of people already debating the terms of funding models. That’s exactly what my committee is doing.

At a subsequent speech, Whittingdale even compared the licence fee to the poll tax, saying it was actually worse than that because “there is no means-tested assistance whatsoever, it doesn’t matter how poor you are, you still have to pay £145.50 and go to prison if you don’t pay it”. However, he went on to say he thought the licence fee would survive for the next 10 years, but needed modifying to take into account on-demand viewing via the BBC’s iPlayer.

He is also on record as saying the BBC Trust is far too close to the BBC and needs to be shaken up. On Leveson, he accused the inquiry head of straying beyond his remit and was a vocal opponent of any statutory regulation of the press.

Regarded as a Thatcherite and eurosceptic, he has been vice-chair of the 1922 Committee of backbenchers and voted against same-sex marriage.

John Whittingdale
John Whittingdale Photograph: Graeme Robertson/Graeme Robertson

Updated

David Cameron has confirmed that Sajid Javid is the new business secretary.

Cameron leaves 10 Downing Street after naming his new cabinet.
Cameron leaves 10 Downing Street after naming his new cabinet. Photograph: Stefan Wermuth/Reuters

Updated

Priti Patel as employment minister - Snap analysis

Priti Patel, the junior Treasury minister, was a familiar face on TV during the general election campaign, putting the Conservative party line forcefully, and less robotically than many other frontbenchers put up by CCHQ. We’re going to be hearing more from her. She is replacing Esther McVey, the former employment minister who lost her seat, and she will be on the screens every month when new employment figures come out.

For a party that has been historically short of women and minority ethnic figures at the top, Patel’s promotion ticks two boxes at the same time, but she is not someone whose rise has been accompanied by offstage whispers about tokenism. She has had a long background in politics, working for the party as a press officer in the William Hague era, when joining the Tories was not an option for careerists, and she has robust, rightwing views, which she never made much effort to conceal. Before Patel joined the Conservatives, she worked for the Referendum party, Sir James Goldsmith’s Eurosceptic party, before the 1997 election. She is also one of the relatively few MPs who has openly advocated the return of hanging.

Updated

John Whittingdale becomes culture secretary

John Whittingdale arrives at 10 Downing Street as Britain’s re-elected Prime Minister David Cameron names his new cabinet, in central London, Britain, May 11, 2015. REUTERS/Stefan Wermuth
John Whittingdale.

John Whittingdale, the former chair of the Commons culture committee, is the new culture secretary.

Updated

Amber Rudd as energy secretary - Snap analysis

Amber Rudd is the new energy and climate change secretary, a role previously held by the now former Lib Dem MP Ed Davey. She was a parliamentary aide to George Osborne (a sure route to promotion) under the coalition, before becoming a climate change minister. Her political outlook is considered to be on the moderate wing of the Conservative party and she is known as a campaigner on women’s issues, including work as vice-chair of the parliamentary group against FGM and chair of the group for sex equality.

On energy and climate change issues, her appointment is certainly not a victory for the Tory right who will be expecting Cameron to implement his pledge to stop the march of onshore wind farms. Unlike Owen Paterson, the former Tory environment secretary, she is a firm believer in tackling climate change, telling Business Green last year:

The first world leader to speak about climate change at the UN was Margaret Thatcher and she of course was a scientist and the science is completely compelling. If I’m challenged on it by any of my own party – although I haven’t been – I would say ‘I’m a Thatcherite – aren’t you?’

Before entering politics, she worked in the City, financial journalism and her own executive search agency. Her brother is the famous PR executive Roland Rudd, who was close to New Labour, and she was formerly married to newspaper columnist AA Gill, with whom she has two children.

Updated

Robert Halfon to be new deputy chairman of the Conservative party

Robert Halfon arrives at 10 Downing Street .
Robert Halfon arrives at 10 Downing Street. Photograph: Stefan Wermuth/Reuters

Robert Halfon, the Harlow MP and George Osborne’s PPS, is the new deputy chairman of the Conservative party.

Updated

Here is Amber Rudd arriving at Number 10.

Amber Rudd
Amber Rudd Photograph: Sky News

Priti Patel to become employment minister, attending cabinet

Priti Patel, the Treasury minister, is to become employment minister, attending cabinet.

Sajid Javid as new business secretary - Snap analysis

Sajid Javid.
Sajid Javid.

Few politicians have risen as quickly as Sajid Javid, and now at least he is in a job where he will have the chance to show whether or not he has the authority and heft to make him a leading candidate to take over from David Cameron when he stands down.

A former banker who, according to one report, took a 98% pay cut when he became an MP in 2010, Javid was the first member of that intake to become a cabinet minister when he was appointed culture secretary last April. But it was hardly an ideal appointment for someone whose cultural interests were thought to extend little beyond Star Trek, and for the last year, apart from making a well-argued plea for more ethnic diversity in the arts, he seems to have spent most of his time trying, with limited success, to sound enthusiastic about the many arts events he has been attending.

But at business he will be in his element. He studied economics and politics at university (Exeter), he worked in banking, and his father ran a shop. The previous business secretary, the Lib Dem Vince Cable, had a prickly relationship with George Osborne, but Javid was once Osborne PPS and is regarded as his protege, and BIS officials will be glad to have a boss with clout at the Treasury.

Javid’s shop-owning father was a Pakistani immigrant who arrived in the UK virtually penniless and had to struggle against prejudice to get on. There are very few people on either frontbench in the Commons who have risen so far from such a humble background and, although Javid is seen as a rather wooden media performer, it is thought that his life story could make him a compelling candidate to lead a party still handicapped by being seen as a beacon of privilege.

Updated

Boris Johnson did not stay long in Number 10.

On the way out, he told reporters that his job was mayor of London.

Here’s some footage of him arriving:

Updated

Amber Rudd waves as she arrives at 10 Downing Street.
Amber Rudd waves as she arrives at 10 Downing Street. Photograph: Stefan Wermuth/Reuters

Boris Johnson to attend political cabinet, Amber Rudd to be energy secretary

The announcements are coming thick and fast now.

Boris Johnson arrives at Number 10

Boris Johnson, the mayor of London and new MP for Uxbridge and South Ruislip, has just arrived at Number 10.

There has been speculation that he will be offered some sort of minister without portfolio cabinet post. During the election campaign he repeatedly said he would not be able to take a cabinet job that involved running a department while still mayor of London – implying that he was expecting a cabinet job without heavy departmental responsibilities.

Boris Johnson arriving at Number 10
Boris Johnson arriving at Number 10 Photograph: Sky News

Updated

Tina Stowell will stay on as leader of the Lords

Tina Stowell will stay on as leader of the Lords, but with full cabinet status, David Cameron has confirmed.

Sajid Javid to become new business secretary, sources confirm

Here is some more reshuffle speculation, from Sky’s Jon Craig.

Number 10 sources are suggesting that the FT might have got it wrong about Matthew Hancock going to the Department for Energy. (See 9.36am.)

But they are effectively confirming that Sajid Javid will become the new business secretary.

Updated

One-third of MPs in new House of Commons privately educated, says Sutton Trust

Big Ben and Houses of Parliament

The education thinktank the Sutton Trust has looked at the educational backgrounds of the new 650 MPs that make up the new House of Commons to see if they are representative of the country they represent.

The answer, of course, is still a resounding no. But the ratio of privately educated MPs has gone marginally down, from 35% in 2010 to 32% today.

The research brief, Parliamentary Privilege – the MPs, shows that around half (48%) of Conservative MPs were privately educated, compared with 14% of Liberal Democrats, 5% of SNP MPs for whom they have data and 17% of Labour MPs. Among other MPs, 24% went to a fee-paying school. However, the proportion of privately educated Conservative MPs has fallen from 54% in the last parliament and 73% in 1979.

The Sutton Trust says:

With only 7% of the general population attending independent schools, MPs are over four times more likely to have gone to a fee-paying school than their constituents. Out of those MPs who were privately educated, almost one in ten went to Eton.

Only a quarter of female MPs were privately educated compared with 35% of their male colleagues.

Updated

Sajid Javid 'to become business secretary', Matthew Hancock 'to become energy secretary'

The FT says Sajid Javid is going to become business secretary, and Matthew Hancock is going to become energy secretary

Alastair Campbell, Tony Blair’s former communications chief, has joined those in the Labour party saying the leadership election should not be rushed.

UPDATE: I’ve been rebutted. Campbell tells me he did not “join in”, because he was saying this on Friday too.

Updated

Many of the 50 new SNP MPs are travelling to London today to sort out the practicalities of their new lives as parliamentarians, and they’ve been on Twitter to document the journey.

From Aberdeen North MP Kirsty Blackman:

From Paisley and Renfrewshire North MP Gavin Newlands:

And the Mirror’s Jason Beattie reports that newsagents in Westminster are ordering in more Scottish papers (though someone perhaps needs to tell the newsagent that the Record backed Labour in the election).

David Cameron’s reshuffle continues this morning.

There are five Lib Dem posts to fill. According to Faisal Islam on Sky just now, we should get these names before David Cameron addresses the Conservative backbench 1922 Committee at 11am.

Updated

Simon Danczuk, the Labour MP for Rochdale, anti child abuse campaigner and a vocal critic of Ed Miliband’s leadership, is running for the Labour deputy leadership, the Sun reports.

Updated

David Miliband to address political future later today, reports say

David Miliband.
David Miliband.

More on this tantalising report in the Daily Telegraph, which says that former foreign secretary David Miliband is to address his political future after his brother Ed’s devastating election defeat on Thursday night.

The paper seemed to have doorstepped him returning home from a weekend away with his wife and two children. Asked outside his Upper West Side apartment for his views about the election result, the Telegraph reports he smiled politely and said: “I’ll have something to say tomorrow.”

David, who took a job heading a humanitarian relief and refugee charity in New York in order to give Ed the space to lead Labour to the 2015 election, tweeted his commiserations to the party and to his brother on Friday.

However, his self-imposed exile in the US has not diminished his stature in the party, and he will inevitably be linked with a leadership bid – unless he categorically rules it out. Obviously, not being an MP isn’t an ideal platform, but byelections will come up so the opportunity would be there should he wish to mount a campaign.

A quick look at his Twitter timeline shows there is already a level of support that could be tapped – and as a Blairite he would go some way to reversing the “terrible mistake” of ditching New Labour, as claimed by Lord Mandelson yesterday. One to watch today.

Updated

Alistair Darling says Labour in worse position than in 1992

Alistair Darling, the Labour former chancellor and leader of the Better Together campaign in the Scottish independence referendum, was also interviewed on the Today programme this morning. Here are the key points.

  • Darling said that Labour was in a worse position now than it was in 1992.

On polling day I walked down Gorgie Road and part of the city centre and I was struck by the fact that people just looked away. And when that happens, you are done for. The last time that happened was in 1992. And I’m afraid we are back there, in political terms, only worse, because the future of our country – Scotland in my case, the United Kingdom as well – is at stake.

The Labour party has got to get itself back on its feet and have a powerful argument about what we need to change and what we’re going to do. Let’s see who can do that. But we also need to make sure that we get the arrangements within the UK right. And we cannot wait five years to do that.

  • He said that if the United Kingdom was going to stay together, it had to move towards a federal system. The Smith Commission plans agreed by the main parties before the election were now unsatisfactory because they did not go far enough, he said.

I think the Smith Commission proposals have been completely overtaken by events. It won’t do the business for Scotland, it’s lopsided, therefore it is unfair on England – and if you compound that, as David Cameron has suggested, by saying that essentially English MPs will decide tax and spending, you are well on the way to breaking up the union.

I think we’ve always turned our backs on a federal solution simply because of the fact 80% of the population lives in England but I think you can move towards that and say for Scotland, for Wales, Northern Ireland here are substantially more powers and responsibilities – critically they have got to be more responsible for raising the money to pay for things, but at the same time you remove this anomaly where, when I was an MP, I could vote for English education, but I couldn’t vote for Scottish education.

That’s got to be dealt with, there’s no question about that. But I think if we’re intelligent about this we’ve got a chance for building a constitution for the 21st century.

  • He said that Labour lost because it was not “convincing”, it did not have an economic policy, and it did not defend its record.

Well we weren’t convincing, we didn’t have an economic policy, we didn’t repudiate the criticisms the Tories were making from when we were in government. Indeed, there were occasions when we said we didn’t do any good in 13 years, which is absolute rubbish. You have got to have confidence about what you did in the past, just as the courage to admit where you got things wrong, but we just didn’t look compelling and convincing.

I lost count of the times when people looked at us and said I’m not sure I’m not convinced. These were people who always voted Labour in the past and many of whom took their votes elsewhere.

  • He said the Labour leadership contest should focus on ideas, rather than just being a “beauty contest”.

This isn’t about a beauty contest, it is about ideas, it is about what is relevant, you know, for the second decade of the 21st century.

Updated

Jose Manuel Barroso's Today interview

Jose Manuel Barroso.
Jose Manuel Barroso.

I’m catching up with the interview Jose Manuel Barroso, the former EU commission president, gave to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme about what the future may hold for the UK’s relationship with Europe with a Tory majority in power.

Barroso said David Cameron is in a stronger position to make the case for staying in Europe following the election, but that the tone of the UK’s approach in negotiations was important:

I think today there are better conditions for it to succeed and I mean for a Yes to be obtained because in fact Prime Minister Cameron now has renewed, fresh legitimacy. I think now he has internally greater authority to make the case for Europe. As you know, the anti-European Ukip party was reduced to a very small expression, almost irrelevant, its leader has resigned.

The other leaders of the European Union, all of them I know well, are willing to accommodate some concerns and points made by Britain, providing they are compatible with the overall project of European integration.

I really hope that Prime Minister Cameron will be able to not only keep the United Kingdom united – as happened with the referendum with Scotland – but also keep it European, united.

Barroso said he could not imagine an EU without Britain although he noted deals to restrict benefits to EU migrants would be “extremely difficult” and dealt with on a case-by-case basis. He added that he shared the view while president that some abuses of social security systems should be ended.

On a four-year wait before an EU migrant in Britain could receive welfare, Barroso said: “I personally have many doubts about that one and also the compatibility with the legal system we have in the European Union. That has to be discussed from a legal point of view and also negotiated politically but I think that is going to be very difficult to get that point.”

Updated

On the Today programme James Naughtie says it has just been confirmed that Angus Robertson will be leader of the SNP MPs at Westminster. He won’t be challenged for the post by Alex Salmond or anyone else.

Q: Did you think the Ed stone was a good idea?

Harman says there was nothing wrong with trying to make the point that Labour would keep its promises.

Did it cost Labour the election? No, she says.

Q: Do you know where it is?

No, says Harman.

And that’s it.

Q: People can decide if you are avoiding the question.

Harman says she is answering the question. There is no point pretending they are wise after the event. It would have been better to have been wise before the event.

Labour will now have a comradely discussion about the future.

Q: In the Guardian you say the leadership election will be taken out of the hands of the unions. That implies the last leadership election was in their hands.

Harman says the new system has abolished the electoral college. It is one member one vote. And all ballot papers will be sent out by the Labour party, not by unions.

Only full fiscal autonomy for Scotland can save the union, says Lord Forsyth

Lord Forsyth, a former secretary of state for Scotland, says the near clean sweep of seats gained by the SNP represented a “revolution” in Scotland and that only full fiscal autonomy for the Scots could save the union.

Forsyth, the Scottish secretary in John Major’s government, said he backed Labour’s idea of a constitutional convention.

Interviewed on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Forsyth said Thursday’s election result could not be ignored. He said:

The Conservative in me was full of joy for what David Cameron achieved, but the unionist is greatly dismayed. We used to say that if the SNP won a majority of seats in Scotland, they could have independence. They got 50% of the vote and 95% of the seats. The reality is that you have to respond to that.

Forsyth said the devolution had fed the “nationalist tiger” but he suggested that full fiscal autonomy could save the union.

The government needs to set out a white paper which sets out how fiscal autonomy, devo max, call it what you will, would work in practice so that people are aware of the advantages and disadvantages. The big advantage being that Nichola Sturgeon and the SNP would not be able to produce fantasy manifestos that promised the earth without having the responsibility or raising the money to pay for it.

It may well be that if people are aware of how damaging fiscal autonomy could be to public services and the general body politic in Scotland, that people will be less enthusiastic but I think we owe it to the people who voted in such overwhelming numbers to bring forward these proposals and if they carry support to implement them.

Forsyth said the debate about English votes for English laws could not be postponed and that a solution was needed that would bring stability not just to Scotland but to the whole of the UK, and treat the constituent parts of the UK fairly.

We just can’t go on with this piecemeal additional powers and tinkering with the constitution which as we have seen simply feeds the nationalist tiger and has created this disastrous situation where the unionist parties have a single MP in Scotland representing each of them.

Updated

Harman says Mandelson was wrong to say Miliband ignored middle-income voters

Q: Dan Jarvis in the Times says more people have walked on the moon than were elected for Labour in the south, outside London.

Harman tells Naughtie not to sigh.

She says Labour has to work out what went wrong. But it also has to hold the government to account.

Q: Peter Mandelson said Labour implied it was just in favour of the poor, and against the rich. Do you agree?

No, says Harman. She says that Ed Miliband actually made a big issue of standing up for the squeezed middle.

She says, again, that she is not going to pretend she has all the answers.

  • Harman says Mandelson wrong to say Miliband ignored middle-income voters.

Updated

Harriet Harman's Today interview

Good morning. I’m taking over now from Mark.

James Naughtie is interviewing Harriet Harman, the acting Labour leader, on the Today programme.

Q: Do you agree that Labour did not speak to aspirational people?

Harman says Labour obviously was not winning over enough people. But the opinion polls were wrong. That suggests it will be hard to work out quickly what went wrong.

Q: Other frontbenchers are talking about this. Chuka Umunna says Labour sometimes gave the impression it was not with wealth creators.

Harman says she does not want to give an instant analysis.

Q: Why not? Alistair Darling says this is even worse than 1992.

I disagree with that, says Harman.

Q: It is reasonable to ask what you think?

Harman says, if she said she had the right answers now, people would want to know why she did not say this last week.

Labour needs to find out whether it was behind all along, or whether people changed their mind at the last moment.

She says she has commissioned an analysis of what happened.

And those Labour people who are arguing about this need to speak in a way that does not scapegoat people.

  • Harman says it is too early to be able to say why Labour lost the election.

Updated

Tory MP John Baron says EU referendum pledge helped head off Ukip threat

The Conservative MP for Basildon and Billericay, John Baron, who rebelled against the party leadership over Europe in the last parliament, says the Tories’ promise of referendum by 2017 played a decisive factor in the party’s election triumph.

Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today progamme, Baron said the pledge of an an in/out referendum helped the party fend off the political threat from Ukip.

John Baron MP.
John Baron MP.

I rebelled on the fact that we wanted an EU referendum and my goodness me I’m pleased we got it because it helped a lot of colleagues up against the Ukip threat, it helped them stymie that threat. It even became one of the prime minister’s red lines during the election.

Asked what he would accept as a minimum from a renegotiated treaty with Europe, he said:

For me, and I’m not alone in this, it is about sovereignty of parliament. It is about the fact that laws governing the people of this country should be set by the people of this country. And it’s also about reorienting the relationship between one based on trade and not politics.

Updated

Morning briefing

Good morning and welcome to today’s edition of our election aftermath live blog.

I’m Mark Smith and I’ll be with you until I hand over to Andrew Sparrow later this morning. You can tweet us @marksmith174 or @AndrewSparrow, and we’ll be reading below the line too so please comment away.

It’s straight down to business for an emboldened David Cameron on this first weekday since he swept back into Downing Street on Friday morning and began anointing his new cabinet. For Whitehall staff however, it’s very much a case of ‘Meet the new boss / same as the old boss’, as there has been little sign of shuffling, let alone reshuffling so far.

But with the PM announcing the more junior posts today, there should be more opportunity for pundits like us to analyse what Cameron’s patronage choices say about the direction of his government.

The big picture

There are two key themes of the day (and let’s face it, the next two years): Scotland and the EU. The Tory Eurosceptic MP John Baron was just on the radio so I’ll bring you a summary of what he said, and Lord Forsyth, a former Scotland secretary, was discussing the new Tory majority government’s in-tray on the Smith commission.

Jose Manuel Barroso, the former president of the EU commission, is on the Today programme at 7.45am, while Harriet Harman, Labour’s caretaker leader, will be interviewed at 8.10am. We’ll bring you summaries of what they say.

Meanwhile, here are some of the key developments you may have missed while you were celebrating/commiserating over the weekend:

Updated

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