May names Brexit campaigner to replace ousted aid minister

Unstable cabinet giving British PM a hard time

British Prime Minister Theresa May’s office confirmed that Penny Mordaunt has been appointed Britain’s new minister for international development, replacing Priti Patel who resigned on Wednesday over undisclosed meetings with Israeli officials that breached protocol.

May is grappling with crises on several fronts. Her team is struggling to make headway in exit talks with the EU, several ministers are embroiled in a wider sexual harassment scandal and her ability to command a majority in parliament is facing its most serious test.

Patel’s resignation has forced May into her second cabinet reshuffle in a week after former defence minister Michael Fallon resigned in a sexual harassment scandal that has also led to investigations into the conduct of two other ministers including May’s deputy. The instability in her top team adds to what is already a difficult situation for May.

An ill-judged snap election in June cost her party its majority in parliament and has sapped her authority at a time when she is trying to heal deep divisions within her own party and negotiate Britain’s departure from the EU.

The European Parliament’s Brexit negotiator doused hopes that those negotiations were nearing a breakthrough, saying “major issues” must still be resolved on safeguarding citizens’ rights.

A fresh round of negotiations between Britain and the European Commission began on Thursday.

Progress in Brussels is vital to help May keep on side nervous businesses who say they urgently need to know what will happen when Britain leaves the bloc; otherwise they will be forced to start triggering contingency plans. On Wednesday EU envoys discussed delaying the launch of talks with London on a post-Brexit relationship to next year.

Sixteen months after Britain narrowly voted to leave the EU in a referendum, opinions are still split over Brexit at every level from voter to minister. Although May and her cabinet are united in their intention to take Britain out of the EU, her ministerial team is seen as a delicate balancing act between lawmakers who are still identified as “remainers” or “leavers” according to how they voted in the referendum.