She quit as an MP, but Nicky Morgan’s back in the Cabinet
NICKY Morgan was reappointed as Culture Secretary by Boris Johnson last night – despite quitting her seat at the election.
She has been made a life peer, allowing her to return to the Cabinet just six weeks after quitting the Commons.
When she announced at the end of October her decision to go, friends said she was doing so for ‘family reasons’, but also cited the abuse she received during years of fractious Brexit debates.
Last night allies insisted her re-appointment was a ‘stop gap’ measure and she would not be staying in the job long term. Mr Johnson is planning a major reshuffle in February after Britain leaves the EU on January 31.
One source close to Baroness Morgan said: ‘The reason she left was to be with her family and that remains the case. She will take this for now and the next person will come in February.’
A Downing Street source added: ‘We know there’s a massive reshuffle coming in February. This provides a bit of certainty over that period.’ Baroness Morgan wrote on
Twitter: ‘Well it turns out that leaving the Cabinet is harder than leaving the EU!’.
Her appointment will not be uncontroversial, because she will sit and answer questions in the Lords, leaving Commons questions to her junior ministers.
Mr Johnson also moved to fill the empty post of Welsh Secretary, appointing the MP for Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire, Simon Hart to his first Cabinet job.
In the coming weeks, Mr Johnson is expected to hand a peerage to Zac Goldsmith,
so he can continue his ministerial role and attend Cabinet. He lost his Richmond Park seat last week but is likely to go to the Lords and stay as a minister for the environment and international development.
Baroness Morgan will be in charge of the Department of Culture Media and Sport as it draws up proposals on reform of BBC financing. She has said she would be ‘openminded’ on replacing the licence fee with a Netflix-style subscription.
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