COURT OF KING BOJO
Priti and Javid lead charge for Cabinet...
BREXIT hardliner Priti Patel will return to the Cabinet today as Boris Johnson appoints a top team committed to taking Britain out of the EU this autumn.
Miss Patel, who was sacked by Theresa May less than two years ago, is set for a remarkable return as part of a Cabinet that insiders said would be the most ethnically diverse ever.
Sources suggested she could even be appointed as Home Secretary, although her name has also been linked to both the Department for International Trade and the party chairman’s job.
Mr Johnson’s long-term ally Alok Sharma is also set to join, probably to lead a new drive to tackle the housing crisis, and Home Secretary Sajid Javid is heavily tipped to become Mr Johnson’s Chancellor, preparing the economy for the possibility of No Deal at the end of October.
Speculation reached fever pitch last night when the two men arrived together for Mr Johnson’s first meeting with Tory MPs after being elected as their leader. Mr Javid gave a thumbs-up when he left.
But sources denied he had been offered the job formally, leaving open the possibility that Mr Johnson could yet reward either Liz Truss or Matt Hancock, who both played prominent roles in his successful bid to be Prime Minister.
The only confirmed role was chief whip, taken by Mark Spencer, a lowprofile figure who has been in the whips’ office for years.
The appointment of Mr Spencer, a Remainer, was broadly welcomed last night. But one Eurosceptic said it was ‘astonishing’, pointing out he was in charge of the failed project to persuade Labour MPs to back Mrs May’s Brexit deal.
Mr Johnson is expected to confer a handful of senior Cabinet roles tonight after assuming power. However, the appointment of his full Government is expected to take at least another 24 hours.
Allies fear he will be reluctant to wield the knife in person and are privately relieved that some longterm critics, such as Philip Hammond, have already said they will quit in advance.
One source said last night that up to two-thirds of the seats around the Cabinet table could be handed to Brexiteers as Mr Johnson makes good on his pledge to appoint only those who are ‘reconciled’ to the possibility of No Deal this autumn.
Jacob Rees-Mogg, chairman of the European Research Group of Eurosceptic MPs, is tipped for a senior
‘Talents that reflect modern Britain’
role, possibly as chief secretary to the Treasury.
Steve Baker, who led the Eurosceptic rebellion against Mrs May’s deal, is also being considered for a return to government, along with Andrea Leadsom, to reassure Brexiteers that Mr Johnson will not abandon them once in office.
But, in a sign that Mr Johnson is aware of the need to reach out to the pro-Remain wing of the party, he will also promote a string of rising stars to roles just outside the Cabinet, including Oliver Dowden, Rishi Sunak and Robert Jenrick. Popular former sports minister Tracey Crouch, who quit in protest over Government policy on controversial fixed-odds betting terminals, is also expected to take a senior role.
Mr Johnson has said he will give at least one ‘top four’ jobs to a woman. But allies admit he has been agonising over how to fulfil the pledge.
One option is to promote Miss Truss – who abandoned her own leadership ambitions to act as a cheerleader for Mr Johnson – to Chancellor.
But some allies fear her maverick style would risk spooking the markets at a delicate time for the British economy.
Another option is to promote Miss Patel to the Home Office. Such a move would represent an astonishing comeback for a minister who left the Government under a cloud less than two years ago.
She was forced to step down as international development secretary in November 2017 after failing to tell the Prime Minister about 14 unofficial meetings with Israeli ministers, businesspeople and a senior lobbyist.
In her resignation letter she admitted her actions ‘fell below the high standards that are expected of a secretary of state’.
But she is a favourite of party activists and is a committed Brexiteer. Miss Patel is one of 28 selfstyled ‘Spartan’ MPs who voted against Mrs May’s deal three times – once more than Mr Johnson.
Miss Patel also takes a tough line on crime, and a move to the Home Office would be controversial, given her long-standing support for the return of the death penalty.
Sources in the Johnson camp last night said the number of female full Cabinet ministers would increase from the current five. However, Mrs May, who will quit as prime minister today, also has three further women ministers who attend Cabinet.
Northern Ireland secretary Karen Bradley is not expected to keep her job under Mr Johnson’s regime.
However, both Penny Mordaunt and Amber Rudd are expected to be handed places in his top team after Miss Rudd publicly dropped her opposition to No Deal.
A source close to Mr Johnson said: ‘Boris will build a Cabinet showcasing all the talents within the party that truly reflect modern Britain.’