Johnson bid to promote ethnic MPs

Tory leadership frontrunner Boris Johnson is expected to appoint the highest number ever of black and ethnic minority ministers to his Cabinet this week.

Home Secretary Sajid Javid is currently the only non-white member of the Cabinet after being first appointed under David Cameron.

Mr Javid will stay in one of the most senior jobs, and could be joined by a returning Priti Patel, who is being lined up to be International Trade Secretary.

Miss Patel was made International Development Secretary by Theresa May. But she was forced to resign after it emerged she held a series of ‘off the books’ meetings with figures in the Israeli government including premier Benjamin Netanyahu.

Several other rising stars are being considered for Cabinet roles, including rishi Sunak, 39, who is a housing minister. He has been tipped to move to the Treasury as Chief Secretary, replacing Liz Truss, who is also in line for promotion.

Another Boris ally, Alok Sharma, is also tipped for a bigger job. He could return to the housing and communities department as secretary of state. Mr Sharma was a junior minister there in the aftermath of the Grenfell disaster. Another being tipped for prominence is James Cleverly, who ran for the leadership before dropping out and backing Mr Johnson.

Mr Cleverly has been considered as the party chairman, although former work and pensions secretary Esther McVey is also a contender for the post.

Mr Johnson is considering a return to the ‘dual’ chairmanship seen under David Cameron, with one politician and one official taking joint leadership of Conservative HQ.

Jeremy Corbyn has three ministers from ethnic minority backgrounds on his front bench: shadow home secretary Diane Abbott, shadow Commons leader Valerie Vaz and shadow women and equalities minister Dawn Butler.

There have only been five non-white ministers to hold full Cabinet rank.

The first was Paul Boateng, who was appointed chief secretary to the Treasury in 2002 under Tony Blair. Labour peer Baroness Amos was international development secretary and leader of the House of Lords from 2003 to 2007.

Sayeeda Warsi, now Baroness Warsi, was Conservative Party chairman from 2010 to 2012.

‘McVey is also a contender’