Keir Starmer appoints cabinet after landslide general election win

Sir Keir Starmer’s new government is due to meet for the first time on Saturday – Labour’s first full day in power.

Rachel Reeves is the UK’s first female Chancellor, while Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner is also among a record 11 women in the team of 25 ministers.

Sir Keir appointed his cabinet on Friday after Labour’s landslide election victory, and in his first speech as prime minister The work of change “begins immediately,” he said.

In a speech in Downing Street, Johnson also promised to restore trust in politics through a “service government”.

The cabinet meeting will focus on what Labour calls its “first steps” which include – among other things – economic stability, cutting NHS waiting lists and tackling illegal immigration.

David Lammy became Foreign Secretary, while Yvette Cooper became Home Secretary.

Speaking outside Government House after being appointed Prime Minister In a speech at Buckingham Palace, Sir Keir pledged: “My government will serve you, and politics can be a force for good.”

“The work of change starts immediately, but there is no doubt that we will rebuild Britain.”

In his farewell speech outside Downing Street, Rishi Sunak apologised to the Conservative candidates and told the crowd: “I have heard your anger and your disappointment.”

Labour won 412 seats – giving the party a 174-seat majority in the new House of Commons. The Conservatives fell to an all-time low of 121 seats, a net fall of 251 seats.

The Liberal Democrats won 63 seats, giving them 71. The SNP suffered a heavy defeat, losing 38 seats to nine with one constituency yet to be declared.

The Reform Party won five seats, including its leader Nigel Farage’s seat in Clacton, while the Green Party increased its number of MPs from one to four. Plaid Cameron doubled its number of MPs from two to four.

Within hours of becoming prime minister, Sir Keir has been making rapid and furious appointments to his senior team. More ministerial roles are expected to be announced.

Comment on the photo, Sir Keir Starmer is Labour’s first prime minister in 14 years, having taken over the party after its worst election result since 1935.

A large majority of the cabinet members were educated in public schools, and only three of them were studying in private schools.

The other two veterans of the last Labour government are Energy Security and Net Zero Minister Ed Miliband and Northern Ireland Secretary Hilary Benn.

Mr Lammy also served as a minister in the last Labour government alongside Pat McFadden, who served as Prime Minister, and Defence Minister John Healey.

All Cabinet members backed remaining in the EU in the 2016 referendum. Before the election, Sir Keir ruled out the UK returning to the EU single market during his lifetime.

Sir Keir spent his first few hours as prime minister Receive congratulatory calls from world leaders.

US President Joe Biden told Sir Keir he looked forward to “strengthening the special relationship” with the UK, according to the White House and Downing Street.

“I am grateful to Prime Minister Starmer for his reaffirmation of the UK’s principled and unwavering support for Ukraine,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a post on social media.

Meanwhile, Sir Keir and Irish Prime Minister Simon Harris pledged to “reset and strengthen” Anglo-Irish relations “urgently and ambitiously”, the Irish government said.

Comment on the photo, Rachel Reeves said she felt a “historic responsibility” to be the first female chancellor.

The new government includes some unexpected appointments.

Richard Hermer is the prosecutor, not Emily Thornberry who was playing the role.

Mr Hermer, a friend of Sir Keir’s since his days as a barrister, will be given a life peerage to allow him to sit in the House of Lords and attend Cabinet meetings.

Former government science adviser Patrick Vallance has been peeraged to become science minister in the new government.

James Timpson was also peerage-ed and appointed Minister for Prisons.

He is currently CEO of Timpson Group, which employs ex-offenders in its UK watch and shoe repair chain.

The BBC understands that Lord Vallance and Lord Timpson will not attend the cabinet meeting.

As Chancellor, Ms Reeves is the first woman to hold the second most important position in government in the office’s 708-year history.

“To every girl and woman reading this, let us show today that there should be no limits to your ambitions,” she said.

Ms. Reeves told her new team of Treasury officials that she was “under no illusions about the scale of the challenges we face.”

Comment on the photo, David Lammy has promised to “reset” the UK’s relationship with its allies abroad after being appointed foreign secretary.

Lamy said on social media that his appointment as foreign minister was “the honour of my life”.

Speaking to the BBC, Lamy said his top priorities were to “reset Europe, reset our relations with the global south, and reset the climate”.

Some of Sir Keir’s key allies lost their seats, including Jonathan Ashworth in Leicester South, who was defeated by independent candidate Shaukat Adam, who campaigned against Mr Ashworth’s stance on the war in Gaza.

Former shadow culture secretary Thangam Debbonaire has lost to Green Party leader Carla Denyer in Bristol Central.

After successfully fending off a challenge from a pro-Gaza independent in the Birmingham Ladywood borough, Shabana Mahmood has been appointed Justice Secretary.

“I think the really interesting thing in the last 24 hours… is that people say when they saw that government coming into Downing Street – just the sense of change… of a new group of people who look more like us and look like the rest of the country, who were very clear about the priorities,” Alastair Campbell, Tony Blair’s former chief of public relations, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

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The Council of Ministers announced its new formation, which includes:

  • Sir Keir Starmer – prime minister
  • Angela Rainer – Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of State for Development, Housing and Communities
  • Rachel Reeves – Chancellor of the Exchequer
  • Pat McFadden – Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
  • David Lamy – Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs
  • Yvette Cooper – Minister of State for the Interior
  • John Healy – Minister of State for Defense
  • Shabana Mahmoud – Lord Chancellor and Minister of State for Justice
  • Wes Streeting – Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
  • Bridget Phillipson – Minister of State for Education
  • Ed Miliband – Minister of State for Energy Security and Net Zero Emissions
  • Liz Kendall – Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
  • Jonathan Reynolds – Minister of State for Business and Trade
  • Peter Kyle – Minister of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
  • Louise Haig – Minister of State for Transport
  • Steve Reed – Minister of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
  • Lisa Nandy – Minister of State for Culture, Media and Sports
  • Hilary Benn – Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
  • Ian Murray – Secretary of State for Scotland
  • Joe Stevens – Secretary of State for Wales
  • Lucy Powell – Lord President and Leader of the House of Commons
  • Baroness Smith – Lord of the Privy Seal and Leader of the House of Lords
  • Alan Campbell – Leader of the party in the House of Commons
  • Darren Jones – Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer
  • Richard Hermer KC – Attorney General
Comment on the photo, Rishi Sunak has pledged to remain as Conservative Party leader until his successor is chosen by the party.

Mr Sunak has pledged to remain as party leader until arrangements are in place to choose his successor.

Penny Mordaunt, the former leader of the House of Commons and twice a candidate for prime minister, lost her seat in Portsmouth North, as did former minister Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg.

One of the main reasons for the Conservatives’ result was a surge in support for the UK’s Reform Party – which won 14.3% of the vote, propelling party leader Nigel Farage into parliament for the first time, along with four other Reform MPs.

Meanwhile, the Liberal Democrats became the third largest party in the House of Commons.

The Green Party recorded its best general election performance so far, winning 6.8% of the vote across Great Britain.

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