Johnson reshuffle ‘will be no revolution’
BORIS JOHNSON’S reshuffle tomorrow will not be “a revolution”, Government sources said last night, as Cabinet ministers prepared for a limited shakeup in which several Remainers will be promoted at the expense of Leavers.
The Prime Minister was putting the finishing touches to a reshuffle which he hopes will decisively put the bitter three years of arguments about Brexit behind him.
The scale of the reshuffle has been radically pared back since speculation of a much wider shake-up in the immediate aftermath of the general election.
The source added: “It is not going to be a revolution.”
Chloe Smith, Oliver Dowden and Lucy Frazer – all Remain supporters – are tipped to be promoted to the Cabinet at the expense of Brexit supporting ministers such as Geoffrey Cox, Andrea Leadsom and Theresa Villiers.
Ms Smith is tipped for a wider minister for the Union role based at the Cabinet Office while Mr Dowden will replace Baroness Morgan running the
Digital, Culture, Media and Sport de- partment. Nusrat Ghani, already a junior transport minister, is expected to be made HS2 minister, The Daily Telegraph understands, although she could face criticism because her Wealden constituency is nowhere near the £106billion railway’s route.
Ms Villiers, the Environment Secretary, is also widely expected to be sacked, leaving Priti Patel, the Home Secretary, as the only member of the Cabinet who consistently voted against Theresa May’s Brexit deal. Brexiteers
including Mr Johnson, Dominic Raab, the Foreign Secretary, and Jacob Rees-mogg, the Leader of the House of Commons all backed her deal at third “meaningful vote” last March.
One Government source said: “The labels of ‘Leave’ and ‘Remain’ were binned as soon as we got Brexit done – no one mentions them now.”
In other changes Mark Spencer, the Chief Whip, is understood by two Westminster sources to be “pushing” to take over at the top of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. Mr Spencer is one of four partners in CH Spencer and Son, a farming business based in Mapperley, Notts, which receives up to £15,000 a year under the CAP. Mr Spencer did not return a request for comment.
The Government is committed to replacing the CAP funding for farmers with payments for “public goods” such as giving access to the countryside.
In other moves Chris Pincher, a minister of state in the Foreign Office, could be brought in to run the Whips’ Office.
Michael Gove, the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, is tipped to be given overall control of the talks about a post-brexit trade deal with the EU. Jake Berry, the Northern Powerhouse minister, could be given a full time Cabinet position, while Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park is tipped for a role at the COP26 United Nations climate change conference in November under Mr Gove’s leadership.
Ben Wallace, the Defence Secretary, and Mrs Leadsom, the Business Secretary, are both expected to be demoted.
Liz Truss, the International Trade Secretary, has been shored up after she was name-checked by Mr Johnson in his trade speech last week.
No 10 sources confirmed at the weekend that Grant Shapps, the Transport Secretary, is safe.