UK PM shakes up government to boost business, energy production

LONDON — British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak shook up his government on Tuesday, moving ministers and merging departments in a bid to assert control amid ethics scandals and sniping from Conservative Party colleagues.

Sunak appointed lawmaker Greg Hands to chair the governing party, which is demoralized by dismal opinion poll ratings and a year of turmoil. Sunak is Britain’s third Conservative prime minister in less than a year.

Hands, a former trade minister who has served in Parliament since 2005, replaces Nadhim Zahawi, who was fired by Sunak last month after failing to come clean about a multimillion-dollar tax dispute.

As deputy party chair, Sunak installed Lee Anderson, an ex-coal miner turned combative legislator from the right wing of the Conservative Party who once said people use food banks because “they cannot cook properly” or make a budget.

Sunak has vowed to restore order and integrity to government after three years of instability under predecessors Boris Johnson — brought down in summer 2022 by ethics scandals — and Liz Truss, who quit in October after six weeks in office when her tax-cutting economic plans sparked mayhem on the financial markets.

But he faces opposition allegations that the government remains mired in scandal and sleaze. Ethics inquiries are also underway over claims Johnson secured a loan with the help of a Conservative donor who was later appointed chairman of the BBC, and into allegations that Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab bullied staff. Raab denies bullying.

Sunak also rearranged the ministries responsible for business, energy, science and trade as part of his aim to boost the country’s sluggish economy and make the U.K. a science and technology superpower.