RISE OF THE TORY WOMEN IN CABINET RESHUFFLE
Boris holds a secret pow-wow at Chequers to decide his top team – and plans big futures for a TV bridal show guest and ex-soldier
BORIS Johnson has held a secret meeting at his country retreat to mastermind his first major Cabinet reshuffle since the Election – with female MPs from his party’s new Northern England heartlands at the head of the queue for promotion.
The Prime Minister slipped away to Chequers on Friday to thrash out the new shape of his Government with key Downing Street advisers.
The aides, who included Dominic Cummings and Munira Mirza, the director of the No 10 policy unit, discussed the likely winners and losers from the reshuffle and mapped out the main policy priorities of the PM’s new majority government.
Treasury Chief Secretary Rishi Sunak is among those tipped for advancement in the reshuffle – expected to be announced after Brexit Day at the end of this month – but question marks hang over Trade Secretary Liz Truss and Attorney General Geoffrey Cox.
Meanwhile, No 10 aides have begun to look beyond the reshuffle to the next generation of Tory leaders.
A taskforce has been set up by Mr Cummings’s close aide Cleo Watson to ‘fast-track’ new Northern England female MPs into key roles.
Those mentioned include Dehenna Davison, the 26-year-old who became the first Conservative to represent
‘Boris wants departments to enjoy autonomy’
Bishop Auckland since the constituency’s creation in 1885; and Sarah Atherton, who is the first Tory to represent Wrexham since its creation in 1918, the first female elected for the constituency, and the party’s first female MP in Wales.
Miss Davison was a contestant on Channel 4’s Bride and Prejudice, while Mrs Atherton joined the Intelligence Corps at 16.
Women’s Minister Victoria Atkins, the MP for Louth and Horncastle in Lincolnshire, is tipped for promotion in the reshuffle.
The PM’s inner circle spent eight hours discussing ‘a mixture of big picture strategic and political thinking and the nuts and bolts of teams and personnel,’ a source said.
The group discussed the strategy for the Brexit trade talks and key domestic policies, such as injections for NHS, new law-and-order reforms – including how to recruit the 20,000 extra police promised during the Election campaign – and the roll-out of an Australian-style points-based immigration system.
Each Cabinet Minister will this week get instructions about the policy areas they should prioritise over the coming year. Senior Government sources say Mr Johnson intends to be a ‘hands-off’ premier who allows Ministers to lead the responses to future crises.
Even after returning from his Caribbean holiday, he sent Defence Secretary Ben Wallace to the Commons to represent the Government over Donald Trump’s decision to kill a leading Iranian general.
A source said: ‘It won’t just be the case with international crises which coincide with his holidays – if there are floods, expect to see the Environment Secretary. Boris wants departments to develop their expertise and enjoy autonomy.’
A No10 insider added: ‘The Prime Minister will be focused on his core issues – Brexit, law and order and the NHS. Last week was deliberate and you will see him more and more as the chairman of the board.’
The source pointed to ‘a return to Cabinet government in the more traditional sense, with Ministers more accountable for the decisions they are taking’.
Despite the Iran crisis being fronted by others, Mr Johnson gave ‘clear and very forthright instructions about the direction of travel’, according to one Cabinet Minister.
Mr Johnson opened a meeting of his National Security Council on Tuesday afternoon by setting out his foreign policy views on the United States. A source said: ‘He was very clear – we want to be good allies with the US but we are not going to be dragged along by them on everything or sucked into conflicts.’
Another Cabinet source described Mr Johnson’s outlook as ‘more Wilson than Blair’ – a reference to Labour PM Harold Wilson, who kept Britain out of the war in Vietnam, rather than Tony Blair, who led us into conflict in Iraq.
Under the new female taskforce, female staff in Downing Street will meet regularly with the women MPs to advise them on how to climb the ministerial ranks.
Last night, a No10 source said: ‘The PM is committed to getting more women MPs in total, and promoting the Tory women who are already on the green benches.
‘His first Downing Street reception of the year was for Tory women MPs and female advisers.
‘This sits alongside his work on girls’ education, which will continue as a major personal priority.’