Looks more insists May

point where she was making a virtue of her ability to walk through fires.

“The ability to come out the other side of a burning building, which is I think the way she looked at the end of last year, isn’t enhanced by an ability to walk into a burning building deliberately.”

Africa minister and former diplomat Rory Stewart has gone to the Ministry of Justice –a shift which was criticised by Tory grandee Sir Nicholas Soames who questioned why a “really knowledgeable” foreign policy expert was being moved to a domestic role.

Following Mr Hunt’s reported refusal to move from health to business, the spokesman described him as “a longserving and hard-working Health Secretary who has helped deliver an NHS which has been rated the best in the world”, adding: “He has been doing a good job and will continue to do so.”

The spokesman confirmed that the review of social care started under the Cabinet Office was being moved in its entirety to Mr Hunt’s renamed department, but said that funding would remain a responsibility for local authorities.

On Ms Greening’s resignation, the spokesman said: “She has displayed a clear commitment and passion for equality and social mobility and improving the opportunities available to children across the country.

“The Prime Minister respects her decision to continue this work from the backbenches.”

Among those joining the ministerial ranks for the first time are Richmond MP Rishi Sunak at the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, Stratford-on-Avon MP Nadhim Zahawi at the Department for Education and South East Cambridgeshire’s Lucy Frazer, who is joining the Justice team.

Shailesh Vara returns to the Government after a spell on the backbenches as parliamentary under secretary in the Northern Ireland Office.

In a sign of Mrs May’s priorities, the Department for Exiting the European Union gains an extra minister in Ms Fernandes, while the teams at the newly renamed Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government and Department of Health and Social Care also increase in size.