Zac Goldsmith in line to keep ministerial job with a peerage

Friend of the Johnson family who lost his seat tipped to make a rapid return to government

ZAC GOLDSMITH, the Conservative Cabinet minister who lost his Commons seat on Friday is being lined up for a peerage that would allow him to retain his Government role.

Boris Johnson is understood to have discussed appointing the former Richmond Park MP to the House of Lords in order to keep him on as environment and development minister.

Tomorrow the Prime Minister is expected to announce replacements for Nicky Morgan, the culture secretary who stood down as an MP, and Alun Cairns, who resigned as Welsh secretary last month. Last night, Anne-Marie Trevelyan, a defence minister and former board member of the official Vote Leave campaign, was tipped as a possible replacement for Mrs Morgan, along with Victoria Atkins, a Home Office minister, and Rishi Sunak, the Chief Secretary to the Treasury.

There was speculation that Mr Johnson might sack Jacob Rees-Mogg following the Commons Leader’s remarks on the Grenfell Tower disaster early in the election campaign.

Mr Johnson is planning to minimise tomorrow’s reshuffle with the intension of a more significant one after Jan 31. A Tory source said Mr Johnson had appointed his current top team to oversee the UK’s departure from the EU, and that “this is going to be the Government that delivers Brexit”.

Mr Goldsmith, 44, one of his party’s most prominent environmental campaigners, lost his seat for the second time in three years, having been a primary target of the Liberal Democrats.

The close ally and friend of both Mr Johnson and Carrie Symonds, the Prime Minister’s girlfriend, was promoted to the Cabinet in September. On Friday he said he would “always be grateful to have been given a platform to champion the environment”.

After being praised for his work in helping to protect the oceans, he said: “[There’s] lots more to do and am 100 per cent confident the PM will do it.” Mrs Morgan, who is also likely to be recommended for a peerage, announced in October that she would step down as an MP at the election, citing “the clear impact on my family and the other sacrifices involved” – as well as abuse she had suffered as a parliamentarian.

Mrs Trevelyan, 50, is a confident performer who is highly regarded by veterans of the 2016 Vote Leave campaign. She served as a prominent member of the European Research Group of Eurosceptic backbenchers and was appointed as minister for defence procurement following Mr Johnson’s successful leadership campaign in July.

Mrs Trevelyan appears to share Mr Johnson’s unease with aspects of the BBC, having put her name to a letter in 2017 criticising the corporation for “unfair” and “pessimistic” coverage of Brexit. In the same year she shared an article by Viscount Ridley, the Conservative peer, describing the licence fee as a “regressive poll tax”. The article also warned that “television licence fee evasion accounted for 36 per cent of all prosecutions of women in 2015 and 6 per cent of men.”

Ms Atkins, 43, is another minister regarded by many MPs as highly capable and worthy of promotion.

Mr Sunak, from the 2015 intake and given a ministerial post by Mr Johnson in July, has also been discussed as a possible successor, after several prominent media appearances during the election campaign. Mr Sunak, 39, was cofounder of a large investment firm in Silicon Valley before entering politics.

The vacancy left by Mrs Morgan could also provide an opportunity for John Whittingdale, 60, who was culture secretary under David Cameron, to return to the Cabinet.

Possible replacements for Mr Cairns include Stephen Crabb, the former work and pensions secretary, and Simon Hart, currently minister for implementation.

The only Cabinet minister Mr Johnson publicly guaranteed would retain their post after the election was Sajid Javid, the Chancellor.

Addressing the CBI last month, the Prime Minister said: “I’m going to give you an absolutely categorical assurance I will keep Sajid Javid as my chancellor. I think he’s a great guy and I think he is doing a fantastic job.”

‘I’m going to give you an absolutely categorical assurance I will keep Sajid Javid as my chancellor. I think he’s a great guy’