Travellers warned on company’s prices of holidays
MICHAEL GOVE has made a surprise return to Government as Theresa May carried out a postelection reshuffle of her Cabinet.
Downing Street said he had been appointed Environment Secretary replacing Andrea Leadsom who becomes the new Leader of the Commons.
The former justice secretary was sacked by Mrs May in one of her first acts as Prime Minister after he effectively scuppered the Tory leadership hopes of Boris Johnson – his fellow Vote Leave campaigner - by withdrawing his support and announcing his own candidacy.
The appointment of Mr Gove – who she clashed bitterly with over tackling extremism when they were in government together under David Cameron – will be seen as further evidence of Mrs May’s need to shore up her position after seeing her Commons majority wiped out.
Earlier the Prime Minister announced that she was promoting Damian Green to become First Minister of State – a title associated in the past with the position of deputy prime minister.
In a relatively limited reshuffle of her top team, David Gauke – who was the Treasury chief secretary and has long been regarded as one of the Government’s strongest performers – was promoted to take over at the Department for Work and Pensions.
David Lidington, the leader of the Commons, also received a step up as the new Lord Chancellor and Justice Secretary.
He replaces Liz Truss who becomes Treasury Chief Secretary “attending Cabinet”, in a move that will be seen as a demotion.
There had been speculation she could be axed altogether following fierce criticism from the judiciary over her failure to speak out in support of judges who were criticised over the Article 50 High Court ruling.
The decision to keep her in the Government will be seen as another indication of Mrs May’s weakness following the loss of her Commons majority.
The Prime Minister had already announced that her five most senior ministers - including Chancellor Philip Hammond and Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson were carrying on in their current positions.
Mr Hammond in particular had been widely tipped for the chop in a post-election reshuffle and the announcement that he was carrying on at the Treasury underlined her limited room for manoeuvre.
Sir Patrick McLoughlin continues as Conservative Party chairman despite speculation that he could pay the price for the party’s dismal showing at the ballot box on Thursday.
A swathe of other ministers were confirmed in their existing positions including International Trade Secretary Liam Fox, Education Secretary Justine Greening, Communities Secretary Sajid Javid, Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt and Northern Ireland Secretary James Brokenshire.
Business Secretary Greg Clark, Transport Secretary Chris Grayling, International Development Secretary Priti Patel, Culture Secretary Karen Bradley, Welsh Secretary Alan Cairns and the Leader of the Lords Baroness Evans of Bowes Park also keep their jobs.
Gavin Williamson, who has been in Belfast conducting negotiations with the Democratic Unionists on supporting a minority Conservative Government, remains as Chief Whip.
Jeremy Wright carries on as Attorney General and Brandon Lewis remains a Home Office minister. BRITISH TRAVELLERS should prepare to pay more for their holidays booked through Thomson owner Tui, which has warned it is set to pass rising costs onto customers following the pound’s collapse.
Tui chairman Klaus Mangold said that despite attempts to hold costs steady, pressures on margins – linked to the weaker currency and rising destination costs – would mean prices for British customers were likely to rise.
“We are trying to avoid this, but sometimes we cannot avoid it,” he said. Italy, Spain, Greece, are increasing their prices so they (UK travellers) are suffering two-fold.
“One is by the currency issue and secondly is the increase of price in the country of destination. So you have to compensate it and I believe that we are making major efforts to do this and to make sure that ... we can offer our customers a reasonable pricing as far as destinations are concerned.”
When asked whether the price increases could start to be applied within the next year, Mr Mangold was cautious about giving a forecast.
He said: “But it’s a very limited number. So it’s not something where we say, ‘Okay we have to give everything to the customers which is linked with increases in prices, which we are taking on as well’.”
The chairman said the company had already noticed the British were taking shorter holidays as a result of rising inflation, with vacations cut down by two to three days on average.
But Europe’s biggest tour operator still managed to post a 3.3 per cent rise in revenue for the six months to March 31 to £5.4bn, noting that British bookings had remained “resilient” despite Brexit.