Purging of Team Rishi

Sunak supporters lose jobs as PM appoints Cabinet of loyalists

LIZ Truss culled Rishi Sunak’s most prominent backers from the Cabinet yesterday as she rewarded her supporters with top jobs.

Dominic Raab, Grant Shapps, Steve Barclay, Shailesh Vara and George Eustice were all removed having failed to back the new Prime Minister.

Last night just one of Mr Sunak’s supporters looked like he might survive, with some saying Michael Ellis could be given a seat at the Cabinet table as Attorney General.

The purge was one of Miss Truss’s first acts as PM.

Mr Raab was deputy prime minister and justice secretary under Boris Johnson, but was criticised by Miss Truss’s supporters for his ‘vicious’ barbs against her during the leadership campaign.

Last month he claimed her plans to cut tax to ease the cost of living crunch were akin to an ‘electoral suicide note’.

Sacked Sunak supporters suggested they would be an active presence in Parliament, will trigger alarms in Downing Street that they could prove to be a thorn in Miss Truss’s side.

Mr Shapps, who was removed as transport secretary despite hoping to remain in post, tweeted: ‘Now I look forward to being a strong, independent voice on the backbenches.’

Mr Eustice pledged to ‘offer scrutiny’ from the backbenches after he was sacked as environment secretary.

Johnny Mercer, who did not state who he backed in the leadership contest, said he was ‘disappointed’ to be sacked as veterans’ affairs minister. In a thinly veiled swipe at Miss Truss, he posted on Twitter that the Prime Minister ‘ is entitled to reward her supporters’, while his wife Felicity called the PM an ‘imbecile’.

Other ministers to lose their jobs included Tory chairman Andrew Stephenson and levelling-up secretary Greg Clark, who were both given their roles in Boris Johnson’s caretaker administration in July.

Sir Robert Buckland, who switched from backing Mr Sunak to Miss Truss during the campaign, managed to cling on as Welsh Secretary.

Sajid Javid, who backed Miss Truss after being knocked out of the leadership contest, did not get a return to Cabinet. He resigned as health secretary in July in protest at Mr Johnson’s handling of sexual harassment complaints against former chief whip Chris Pincher.

Michael Gove, who was sacked by Mr Johnson in the ensuing turmoil, also did not get a seat back at the Cabinet table after backing Mr Sunak.

Miss Truss is the first Prime Minister to appoint a Cabinet featuring no white men in the four Great Offices of State.

Kwasi Kwarteng is now Chancellor after serving as business secretary under Mr Johnson.

Suella Braverman, one of the runners-up in the early rounds of the leadership contest, becomes Home Secretary. James Cleverly – Miss Truss’s deputy for most of her time at the Foreign Office – is Foreign Secretary. He is the first ethnic minority person in the role.

Therese Coffey will serve as both Deputy Prime Minister and Health Secretary.

The former work and pensions secretary and Miss Truss have been best friends in Parliament since they were both first elected as MPs in 2010.

As she left Downing Street last night, Miss Coffey told waiting journalists: ‘I’m very excited, thank you.’

Ex-home secretary Priti Patel, who did not back either leadership candidate, announced on Monday that she was returning to the backbenches. Nadine Dorries stepped down as culture secretary despite being told she could stay in her post.

Former Tory leader Sir Iain

‘Entitled to reward supporters’

‘I’m going to the backbenches’

Duncan Smith said he was offered a position in the Cabinet, but turned it down.

Sir Iain – a prominent supporter of Miss Truss – confirmed the job offer to BBC Radio 4’s World At One programme, but added: ‘I won’t be taking it up. I’m going back to the backbenches again.

‘I am very happy to support her. Sometimes in life you have got to figure out whether you add value to a particular job you are being asked to do.’

Lord Frost also did not get a job. The Tory peer served as Brexit minister for nine months before he flounced out of Cabinet in December.

Yesterday, Mr Sunak was back at work as a backbench MP, speaking in a debate on small hospitals. He joked: ‘Thank you for accommodating me at a late stage in the debate. I had not planned on speaking, but this morning I saw the Order Paper and it turned out that I had more time on my hands than I had anticipated.’