With Liz Truss now installed as the new British Prime Minister, her first task was to select her cabinet. For the first time in political history, a white man will not hold one of the country's four most important ministerial positions.
Mrs Truss appointed Kwasi Kwarteng as Britain's first Black finance minister while James Cleverly is the first Black foreign minister. For many in the new cabinet however, it's not the first time they've been in the limelight. Nearly all of them have at some point courted controversy with spiky opinions or, here in Wales, particular views on Welsh politics.
Read more: 10 things you might not know about the new Prime Minister Liz Truss
Less than 12 hours after being appointed, new health secretary (and deputy PM) Therese Coffey has been in the news for her views on abortion and whether as someone who could "possibly do with losing a pound or two" she is suitable for the role.
Here are some of the more interesting things some members of the new cabinet have come out with in their political careers.
Thérèse Coffey, deputy prime minister and health and social care secretary
Ms Coffey endured an embarrassing first interview with LBC host Nick Ferrari asking her about her habits and physical health, amid some criticism on social media about her suitability for her new role.
“As someone who likes a cigar, enjoys the odd noggin, and let’s be candid, you and I could possibly do with losing a pound or two ... Are you the right person for the job?” the broadcaster asked.
Ms Coffey smiled before responding: "I appreciate I may not be a role model … I’m sure the chief medical officer and others will continue to be role models in that regard, and I will do my best as well."
Her phone alarm was also heard going off live on air playing the Dr Dre hit Still Dre, featuring Snoop Dogg. "I’m just realised that the alarm is going off on my phone – you’re getting a bit of Dr Dre," she laughed. "It’s just an 8am alarm, sorry."
Ms Coffey, elected MP for Suffolk Coastal in 2010, is a long-time friend of the new PM, a fellow Oxford graduate and a Lancashire-born politician who said she her experiences growing up in Liverpool in the 80s, wen it was led by a Labour Militant council, led her to become a Tory. She was closely involved in Truss's leadership campaign. A devout Roman Catholic, she was asked about her views on abortion after the recent US Supreme Court ruling and said the law was not going to change in the UK - although she added she would prefer people not to have abortions.
The British Pregnancy Advisory Service has called the new health secretary's record on abortion rights "deeply concerning". She has also clashed with Marcus Rashford on Twitter, after he forced the government to extend its free school meal voucher scheme.
On his campaign, Rashford tweeted: "When you wake up this morning and run your shower, take a second to think about parents who have had their water turned off during lockdown."
In reply, Ms Coffey posted on Twitter: "Water cannot be disconnected though."
The former Mars and BBC employee is a member of the Campaign for Real Ale with a love of karaoke, and lists her interests as watching football, gardening and music.
Kwasi Kwarteng, chancellor of the exchequer
Mr Kwarteng is a key ally of Mrs Truss and the two both became MPs in 2010. In January 2021 he became the first black Conservative cabinet minister when Boris Johnson made him business secretary.
Born in east London to Ghanian parents - his father was an economist and his mother a barrister - Mr Kwarteng was a high achiever from a young age and won a scholarship to Eton at the age of 13. He went on to get a first class degree in classics and history at Cambridge, as well as being a member of its winning University Challenge team. His first career was as a journalist, writing columns for the Daily Telegraph, before being attracted by the city and holding financial analyst jobs at the likes of JP Morgan.
A year after being elected, Mr Kwarteng published three books, including a book on the legacy of the British Empire, "Ghosts of Empire". But his name became synonymous with a book he contributed to in 2012, alongside Ms Truss, Dominic Raab and Priti Patel, called 'Britannia Unchained'. It labelled the British as "among the worst idlers in the world" and it is often used as a battering ram by Labour's Sir Keir Starmer, who says it shows the authors are out of touch.
Mr Kwarteng was a passionate advocate for leaving the EU and joined the campaign. Despite rising fast up the ranks from junior ministerial roles to business minister in 2019, and then to secretary of state for the department in January 2021, there are multiple reports of him clashing with the Treasury. He has come in for criticism for defending visiting foreign autocratic regimes, saying it was better than "shouting from the sidelines".
James Cleverly, foreign secretary
James Cleverly became an ally of Boris Johnson while a member of the London Assembly. He had been education secretary since July but was a minister in the Foreign Office, with responsibility for Europe and North America, when Russia invaded Ukraine in February.
He began a career in publishing before drifting into Conservative politics around 2002. One of his first acts was to write a report on how the party could do more to win over black voters, and he “very quickly found itself to Iain Duncan Smith’s office” when he was party leader. The father-of-two, who has spoken recently of his wife’s diagnosis and treatment for breast cancer, has been MP for Braintree in Essex since 2015.
Keen to be seen as plain speaking in the Commons, Mr Cleverly described Theresa May’s disastrous 2017 election campaign as “devoid of hope” and briefly tried to stand for the leadership after she quit, but failed to attract enough support.
At one point he extracted an apology from the singer Lily Allen after she mistakenly accused the former transport minister Chris Grayling for being at lunch when Monarch airlines went under. But he was criticised for claiming the 19th-century anti-slavery MP William Wilberforce was a Tory when he was an independent.
Suella Braverman, home secretary
Suella Braverman replaces Priti Patel as home secretary. She initially ran for the leadership herself but Ms. Braverman, an enthusiastic Brexit supporter, declared her support for her former rival soon after being eliminated from the contest.
She has been MP for Fareham in Hampshire since 2015, but before that was a barrister specialising in cases involving public bodies.
In her maiden speech, she recalled how her father, Christie Fernandes, had fled tensions in Kenya to seek a new life in the UK. Even so, she has pitched herself to the right of her predecessor, Priti Patel, and is expected to move quickly to sideline the European convention on human rights (ECHR) – which was used to stop the attempted deportation flight to Rwanda.
“Leaving the ECHR is the only solution which solves the problem, and is entirely consistent with international law,” she wrote in July’s issue of the House magazine. She has also written controversial pieces arguing that the UK courts have too much power and parliament must retrieve it.
She has described the British empire as a force for good and said Twitter was a “sewer of leftwing bile”.
Her membership of a Buddhist religious sect has also attracted controversy. She is a member of the Triratna order, which venerates its founder British-born guru Sangharakshita despite allegations of sexual misconduct against him.
Ben Wallace, defence secretary
Ben Wallace will stay on as Defence Secretary, having held the same position under Boris Johnson. He's seen his popularity grow thanks to his handling of the Ukraine crisis and had been seen as the early favourite to replace Boris Johnson as prime minister before he ruled himself out in favour of focussing on his defence role.
He's been MP for Wyre and Preston North since 2005 although his first venture into politics was actually in the Scottish Parliament as a Tory MSP for North East Scotland from 1999 to 2003.
A former remainer who voted for Theresa May's Brexit deal, his young life was one of privilege, attending the prestigious private Millfield School in Somerset. After Millfield, Mr Wallace attended the Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst before embarking on a military career that took him into the Scots Guards in 1991 after a brief stint as a ski instructor.
In 2003, he appeared to condone the use of mock executions where a solider taken as prisoner might be "manhandled fairly roughly" as "absolutely the norm". He argued that soldiers were taught this is how it was done and they "might pretend to pour petrol" on a prisoner.
He said: "I would defend the right of soldiers to interrogate at the point of capture, swiftly and sharply because that’s when you get the most information. That is not a war crime. Where there’s still a threat to our forces, you need to know information quickly. If that man had been given a cup of tea, would he really have told about his weapons under the floor?"
In 2014, he voted against the introduction of gay marriage.
Though earning a mixture of praise and criticism for his role as Defence Secretary, Wallace was arguably vindicated in his initially controversial comments over the West's approach to Russia in which he said there was a "whiff of Munich in the air". It was a reference to the failed negotiations of the like of Britain and Neville Chamberlain in the run-up to World War Two.
Brandon Lewis, justice secretary and lord chancellor
This is Brandon Lewis' third role in the cabinet. The former Northern Ireland secretary, who resigned in July, initially backed Nadhim Zahawi for the leadership but endorsed Liz Truss at the start of August.
A qualified barrister and former company director, Mr Lewis was a borough councillor in Brentwood for 10 years - five as leader - before entering parliament.
In 2020, he told MPs that the government's plan to break international law in amending the Brexit deal with the EU was one to do so in a "very specific and limited way". He was also forced to make a U-turn after repeatedly denying the existence of the Irish sea border as he robustly defended the government's support for the Northern Ireland protocol. When the government stance on the protocol changed and it demanded its renegotiation, Mr Lewis needed to talk up the very same Irish sea border which he denied existed.
Nadhim Zahawi, chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster, minister for intergovernmental relations and minister for equalities
Nadim Zahawi was born to Kurdish parents in Baghdad in 1967, where he lived until he was nine amongst a wealthy and well-connected family. Due to the oppression of the Kurds by Saddam Hussein, his family fled to the UK as refugees.
Having been connected with the likes of Jeffrey Archer and Stephen Shakespeare and having served as a Councillor for Wandsworth, Zahawi finally entered front-line politics as Conservative MP for Stratford-upon-Avon. At the same time, he purchased a livery yard and created horse-riding business with his wife.
HIs name was synonymous with a 2013 expenses scandal in which he charged more than £4,000 for electricity for the stables and for a yard manager’s mobile home. Mr Zahawi apologised and expressed his mortification, later repaying the money. The energy bills for his second house contributed to Mr Zahawi’s energy claim being the highest of all the MPs. His claims also included charging 31p for paperclips, 53p for a holepunch, 63p for pens and 89p for a stapler.
After joining Theresa May’s Government in 2018, the new Children and Families Minister attended the Presidents’ Club men-only charity dinner in which hostesses were paraded around, sexually assaulted and propositioned. When this information was revealed, Mr Zahawi condemned any inappropriate behaviour at the event and claimed he left early. Theresa May was "appalled" by the event.
In November 2020, in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic, he was handed what he has called "the most important job I'll ever do" - the position of vaccines minister. For almost 11 months he oversaw the rollout of the coronavirus vaccine programme, and was able to boast a fair amount of success, especially when the UK raced ahead of many other countries.
Jacob Rees-Mogg, business, energy and industrial strategy secretary
Jacob Rees-Mogg is one of the Conservative Party's highest profile Brexiteers and he was previously in the cabinet as Brexit opportunities and government efficiency minister and before that had been an attending member as Commons leader. He's known for his polarising views and propensity to gaffes. He is unashamedly pro-fracking, is in favour of extracting every last drop of oil out of the North Sea and has decried “climate alarmism”.
As the new business secretary, he is strongly pro-deregulation and may also face questions over his continuing financial interests: he retained a substantial stake in the hedge fund he co-founded, Somerset Capital Management, while in Johnson’s cabinet.
Entering parliament in 2010 as MP for North East Somerset, Mr Rees-Mogg was seen by those at the top as almost a harmless idiot, making a number of early missteps, including attending a dinner of the Traditional Britain Group, who he later had to distance himself from when its rightwing supporters later backed “repatriation” of black people to Africa.
There were also a number of long-forgotten scandals in his 2010 election campaign, in which he was caught plagiarising a Trevor Kavanagh column from The Sun and trying to pass off one of his own staff members as a voter on his election leaflet.
He later drew criticism for suggesting that quotas for state-school and non-Oxbridge MP candidates could lead to the election of “potted plants” to parliament and more recently suggested a rise in food bank usage was “rather uplifting” in showing the charitable nature of the British people.
Kit Malthouse, education secretary
Kit Malthouse was a deputy mayor of London from 2008, serving under Boris Johnson, and became MP for North West Hampshire in 2015. He is perhaps best known for the eponymous “Malthouse compromise”, a Brexit plan he brokered between leave and remain-supporting MPs in 2019.
During his time as policing minister, Mr Malthouse said he believed schools should teach boys how to treat women and girls with respect. His comments came in the wake of the murder of Sarah Everard.
While Mr Johnson was on holiday this summer, Mr Malthouse was responsible for coordinating the government’s response to the extreme heatwave in July and was criticised for telling schools to stay open.
Ranil Jayawardena, environment secretary
Ranil Jayawardena entered the Commons as MP for North East Hampshire in 2015. He was previously a minister in the international trade department, working for Liz Truss before she became foreign secretary, and was an early supporter of her leadership bid.
His voting record shows he's "consistently voted against measures to prevent climate change", and also against government support for renewable energy projects, according to the website, They Work For You.
Mr Jayawardena’s voting record suggests he favours a light touch when it comes to environment regulations that could impact business. The records on They Work For You show Mr Jayawardena voted “not to require a ‘climate and nature emergency impact statement’ as part of any proposal for financial assistance under a United Kingdom Internal Market Act”, in September 2020.
He also voted “not to require ministers to have due regard to the target of net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 when taking actions including setting up agricultural subsidy schemes”, in October 2020
Michelle Donelan, culture secretary
Michelle Donelan, MP for Chippenham and first elected in 2015, worked in the media and entertainment industry before entering parliament, including a period as communications manager at professional wrestling firm WWE.
After she was elected, she was appointed as a government whip and a minister in the Department for Education gaining a reputation for speaking her mind.
As universities minister, she talked about students being "conned" into debt by taking degrees that might not be worthwhile. And she often picked up the phone to vice-chancellors to express her forthright views.
As Higher and Further Education Minister, Ms Donelan steered the Higher Education Freedom of Speech Bill, which will require universities and student unions to protect freedom of speech. The bill would stop "intolerant woke bullies" on campuses, she said, making it harder to no-platform speakers or dismiss academics who put forward controversial or unpopular views. BBC Radio 4's Evan Davis highlighted this would also allow Holocaust deniers to speak.
In April, the 38-year-old wrote despairingly: "We now see trigger warnings slapped on Harry Potter. We see George Orwell's 1984 branded 'offensive and upsetting' for students to read." She has also posted about the "cultural vandalism" of award-winning books being "quietly scrubbed" from university reading lists because of their challenging content, and objected to poets Philip Larkin and Wilfred Owen's removal from a GCSE syllabus in an attempt to make it more diverse.
Robert Buckland, Wales secretary
Robert Buckland, MP for Swindon and born in Llanelli, initially supported former Chancellor Rishi Sunak for the leadership but switched his endorsement to Liz Truss in the middle of August.
He attracted controversy in 2014 when he was appointed to David Cameron's cabinet as solicitor general despite failing to tell the prime minister that he had been found guilty of professional misconduct. The criminal barrister and recorder was found guilty in 2011 of one charge of professional misconduct for breaching the bar’s code of conduct.
The charge concerned an incident that took place in 2008 when Buckland was a governor at Ridgeway School, near Swindon.
He told the Local Democracy Reporter service he doesn’t see representing an English constituency as an issue in his role as Wales secretary. He said: “If I was an MP for a Welsh constituency then I’d still only be directly accountable to the voters in that constituency. As a United Kingdom MP and a minister in a unionist government I’m answerable to everyone in the UK.
“If the people of Wales want to get rid of me as the Secretary of State for Wales, then they need to vote for different parties at elections and help get a different government elected."
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