Who's in Keir Starmer's new cabinet?
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Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer named David Lammy as his new deputy prime minister and moved several other cabinet ministers to new roles after Angela Rayner's resigned from the government.
Rayner quit after admitting she had underpaid stamp duty when buying a flat earlier this year. She also resigned as deputy leader of the Labour Party.
You can learn more about the Labour MPs who are in key positions in the government in the short biographies below of each member of the cabinet and the ministers who attend its meetings.
Keir Starmer's cabinet
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Keir Starmer
Prime Minister @Keir_StarmerSir Keir Starmer is the first Labour leader to oust a sitting Conservative government since Tony Blair’s landslide victory in 1997.
A year into his premiership, he has sought to advance his manifesto pledges to 'rebuild Britain' and overseen the setting of government priorities in the economy, health and defence.
Starmer trained as a barrister, specialising in human rights cases, and was director of public prosecutions from 2008-13 before becoming the MP for Holborn and St Pancras in north London.
He frequently describes himself as being from a "working class background" and often refers to the "pebble-dash semi" in Oxted, Surrey, where he grew up and that his dad was a toolmaker and his mum worked as a nurse.
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David Lammy
Deputy Prime Minister @davidlammyDavid Lammy has been appointed as deputy prime minister following Angela Rayner’s resignation.
Lammy will also serve as Lord Chancellor and justice secretary, leaving the role of foreign secretary that he had held since the general election.
Born to Guyanese parents in north London, and raised by his mother from the age of 12 after his father left them, he became the first black Briton to study a masters in law at Harvard.
At 27, he became Parliament’s youngest MP when he was elected in Tottenham in 2000 before becoming a junior minister under Sir Tony Blair and Gordon Brown.
He described his appointment as deputy PM as the "honour of my life" and said he was "determined to help make this country fairer, safer and better off".
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Rachel Reeves
Chancellor @RachelReevesMPRachel Reeves is chancellor of the Exchequer - the first woman appointed to the role.
Reeves served as Labour’s shadow chancellor from 2021, and following the party’s general election victory she now holds one of the most powerful positions in government.
Reeves has promised to keep firm limits on spending, but faces pressure over how far her investment plans can deliver the growth she is seeking.
She is reported to sing show tunes during campaign trips and listens to Beyonce when she runs.
She grew up in south London and worked as an economist before being elected as the MP for Leeds West in 2010. She is now the MP for Leeds West and Pudsey. Her younger sister Ellie Reeves has been a Labour MP since 2017.
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Darren Jones
Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster @darrenpjonesDarren Jones, who has just taken on the newly created role of chief secretary to the prime minister, will now also be the chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster.
His newest role involves running the Cabinet Office, the department that supports the prime minister and co-ordinates the government’s policies to deliver its agenda.
He was previously chief secretary to the Treasury, when his boss was the the Chancellor, Rachel Reeves.
He became MP for Bristol North West in 2017 and claimed in his maiden Commons speech to be the first "Darren" to have entered parliament.
Jones, a keen vegan cook who plays the saxophone, has described former Labour PM Sir Tony Blair as his "all time" hero MP.
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Yvette Cooper
Foreign Secretary @YvetteCooperMPYvette Cooper is the new foreign secretary, replacing David Lammy who has become deputy prime minister.
Cooper had previously been home secretary.
In 1997, she was elected MP for Yorkshire seat of Pontefract and Castleford and went to serve as the first female chief secretary to the Treasury and later as work and pensions secretary in the Labour government.
After the 2010 election defeat for Labour, she took on the role of shadow home secretary. She now represents Pontefract, Castleford and Knottingley.
Among other firsts in her political career, the former journalist became the first minister to take maternity leave, and she was one half of the first married couple in the cabinet - alongside her husband former education secretary and Strictly Come Dancing contestant Ed Balls.
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Shabana Mahmood
Home Secretary @ShabanaMahmoodShabana Mahmood has become home secretary, replacing Yvette Cooper who has moved to the Foreign Office.
Mahmood, who has a reputation among Labour MPs as a hardliner on immigration, will now be responsible for that brief, along with national security and for policing in England and Wales.
A former national campaign co-ordinator, she oversaw Labour’s Batley & Spen by-election win in 2021 which some have credited with saving Sir Keir Starmer’s leadership following a defeat in Hartlepool months earlier.
Mahmood, who was previously the justice secretary, lays claim to being the first female Muslim MP - although she was elected in 2010 alongside Yasmin Qureshi and Rushanara Ali - because, she says, her count was the first completed on the night.
The Birmingham Ladywood MP represents the city where she was born and brought up with her twin brother, and has spoken of how her faith "drives me to public service".
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John Healey
Defence Secretary @JohnHealey_MPThe defence secretary is John Healey.
He has continued to argue for strong defence spending and has emphasised that the Labour government maintains an "iron-clad commitment" to supporting Ukraine.
First elected in 1997, Healey served in Sir Tony Blair and Gordon Brown’s governments and in Ed Miliband and Jeremy Corbyn’s shadow cabinets.
He voted in favour of UK participation in the Iraq War in 2003 but says more should have been done to "follow through with the diplomatic, economic redevelopment regeneration and long-term security for Iraq".
He represents the Rawmarsh and Conisbrough constituency in South Yorkshire, having previously been MP for Wentworth, and for Wentworth and Dearne.
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Steve Reed
Housing Secretary @SteveReedMPSteve Reed has taken over from Angela Rayner as secretary of state for housing, communities and local government following her resignation from the cabinet.
He was previously the environment, food and rural affairs secretary but he did shadow the communities and local government brief in opposition.
The son of a print worker and a nurse, Reed grew up on the outskirts of London and became the leader of Lambeth Council in 2006.
He has been Labour MP for Croydon North (now Streatham and Croydon North) since winning a by-election in 2012.
In 2018, Reed became the first Labour MP to pass a major act of Parliament since the party had left government in 2010, when his bill to protect people with mental ill health from violent restraint and tackle deaths in custody, known as Seni’s Law, became law.
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Wes Streeting
Health Secretary @wesstreetingWes Streeting is health secretary, in the cabinet position he has shadowed since November 2021.
He has continued to stress that the NHS will need reform under a Labour government, while also highlighting the importance of protecting frontline services.
The Ilford North MP has also had very personal reasons to praise the NHS, after he was diagnosed and treated for kidney cancer earlier in 2021, then aged 38.
He wrote about the experience in a memoir in which he also described growing up in a council flat in London’s East End, visiting his bank robber grandfather in jail and growing up as a gay Christian.
First elected to Parliament in 2015, Streeting had previously been president of the National Union of Students, and served as a London councillor.
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Bridget Phillipson
Education Secretary @bphillipsonMPEducation Secretary Bridget Phillipson, who is also minister for women and equalities, has often spoken of her own childhood - of seeing "first hand, what happens when you have schools that are falling down".
Raised by her mother in a small terrace council house with rotting window frames and no upstairs heating in a former mining town near Sunderland, she was bullied at school and received free school meals.
But Phillipson credits "amazing teachers" for encouraging her to apply to Oxford, where she studied modern history.
She had joined Labour aged 15 and became its MP for Houghton and Sunderland South in 2010, aged 26. She has been a member of Sir Keir Starmer’s top team since he became Labour leader.
Children won’t get "a first-class education in second-class schools", she argued after hundreds of schools had to close as a result of crumbling concrete.
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Ed Miliband
Energy Secretary @Ed_MilibandEd Miliband is the secretary of state for energy security and net zero - a similar role to the one he held at the end of the last Labour government in 2010.
He remained committed to the issue of climate change during the party’s time in opposition and was one of the key supporters of its now scaled-back Green Prosperity Plan to invest in green industries.
Miliband has been the MP for Doncaster North since 2005 but has been at the centre of Labour politics for even longer - working for Labour MPs before the 1997 election win and as a special adviser to Gordon Brown when he became chancellor.
He is best known as a former Labour leader - having beaten his brother David, among others, in the leadership contest that followed the party’s 2010 general election defeat - but has also co-hosted the Reasons to be Cheerful podcast since 2017.
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Pat McFadden
Work and Pensions Secretary @patmcfaddenmpPat McFadden has replaced Liz Kendall as work and pensions secretary, but will also take over the skills brief that had previously been part of the Department for Education.
As the party’s national campaign co-ordinator McFadden was one of the masterminds behind Labour’s historic 2024 election victory, constantly stressing the need for message discipline ahead of the election and warning activists and MPs alike to ignore the opinion polls.
A former adviser to Sir Tony Blair, the Glasgow-born MP has represented the Wolverhampton South East constituency since 2005, serving as a business minister under Gordon Brown and in several shadow ministerial roles since then.
Before the latest move, McFadden was chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, responsible for running the Cabinet Office - the department that supports the prime minister and co-ordinates the government’s policies to deliver its agenda.
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Peter Kyle
Business and Trade Secretary @peterkylePeter Kyle has replaced Jonathan Reynolds as the business and trade secretary.
Kyle, who was previously science, innovation and technology secretary, says “unlocking the benefits of artificial intelligence is personal” to him because the cutting edge medical scans now being developed could have saved his mother, who died of lung cancer which was detected too late.
The former Brighton Pride trustee had been a shadow minister since Sir Keir Starmer became leader, including a spell as shadow Northern Ireland secretary.
He became MP for Hove and Portslade in 2015, but faced a battle against deselection before the 2019 election for a perceived lack of loyalty to then leader Jeremy Corbyn.
Kyle, who struggled at school and says he was sometimes "humiliated" by teachers who did not know what to do with him, was diagnosed with severe dyslexia aged 25 and returned to school before completing a PhD.
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Liz Kendall
Science, Innovation and Technology Secretary @leicesterlizLiz Kendall has replaced Peter Kyle as science, innovation and technology secretary.
She is thought to be the first serving MP to have had a child through surrogacy and has spoken about her struggle to start a family, which included two miscarriages.
Kendall, who is seen as being on the right of the party, rose to prominence when she stood in the leadership election that followed the 2015 election defeat, losing to Jeremy Corbyn and securing just 4.5% of the vote.
But her pitch, which centred on the need for Labour to regain public trust on the economy and making the party electable, was a very similar strategy to the one Sir Keir Starmer has used to win Labour’s first election since 2005.
A former special adviser to Harriet Harman, Kendall has been the MP for Leicester West since 2010 and was work and pensions secretary before her latest move.
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Heidi Alexander
Transport Secretary @Heidi_LabourHeidi Alexander became transport secretary following Louise Haigh’s resignation in November 2024.
The former Lewisham MP has previously been in charge of transport in London – having quit parliament in 2018 to become deputy mayor of London for transport.
She has spoken of her pride at helping to bring the Elizabeth line into service and of keeping the city’s transport network running during the pandemic.
Alexander returned to parliament as MP for Swindon South in July and was serving as a justice minister before taking on the transport brief.
She had been shadow health secretary under Jeremy Corbyn but quit the role in 2016 describing the shadow cabinet as “entirely dysfunctional”.
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Emma Reynolds
Environment Secretary @EmmaforWycombeEmma Reynolds is the new secretary of state for environment, food and rural affairs, replacing Steve Reed.
She previously served in Labour’s shadow cabinet as shadow secretary of state for housing and planning and shadow secretary of state for communities and local government).
She trained as a solicitor and worked in public policy before entering parliament. She was elected as MP for Wycombe in 2024, having previously served as MP for Wolverhampton North East from 2010 to 2019.
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Lisa Nandy
Culture Secretary @lisanandyFormer Labour leadership challenger Lisa Nandy is culture, media and sport secretary.
Nandy stood against Sir Keir Starmer in the 2020 leadership race and was described as “refreshingly untribal” by one Tory MP who thought she was Labour’s best choice.
She finished third but her reward was to become shadow foreign secretary. Nandy later shadowed Levelling Up Secretary Michael Gove before moving to international development.
She also oversees the culture brief after Thangam Debbonaire, who shadowed the role, lost her seat in the election.
As co-founder of the Centre for Towns think tank, Nandy has been a vocal champion of places like Wigan, which she has represented since 2010, arguing they have been overlooked in discussions on regional development and devolution.
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Hilary Benn
Secretary of State for Northern Ireland @hilarybennmpHilary Benn is Secretary of State for Northern Ireland.
Benn is a veteran parliamentarian, who represented Leeds Central from 1999 to 2024 and is now MP for Leeds South.
He served in the cabinet under Labour prime ministers Sir Tony Blair and Gordon Brown and has been a leading Labour figure in opposition.
He has served as shadow foreign secretary and chairman of the Brexit select committee.
Benn is the son of veteran left-wing campaigner Tony Benn, who served in the cabinet under Labour prime ministers Harold Wilson and James Callaghan.
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Douglas Alexander
Secretary of State for Scotland @D_G_AlexanderDouglas Alexander has returned to the cabinet as Scotland secretary, having previously been in the cabinets of Gordon Brown and Tony Blair.
A former secretary of state for international development and for transport, Alexander lost his Paisley and Renfrewshire South seat to the SNP in one of the biggest shocks of the 2015 general election.
He was re-elected to parliament in 2024 as MP for Lothian East and was tipped for an immediate return to cabinet, but Sir Keir Starmer initially appointed him as a trade and economic security minister.
Alexander told the BBC he hadn’t missed “the game of politics” or the “brutality of social media” but had been asked to stand for re-election by local party members.
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Jo Stevens
Secretary of State for Wales @JoStevensLabourCardiff East MP Jo Stevens is secretary of state for Wales.
The former solicitor was elected as an MP for Cardiff Central in 2015, having been a Labour member and activist for more than 30 years.
She is one of a number of MPs, including former Prime Minister Boris Johnson, known to have needed hospital treatment for Covid in 2020.
She lists her interests as real ale, good books, the arts and music and sport - she’s a member of Glamorgan County Cricket Club and a regular at Cardiff City FC and at Cardiff Rugby.
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Baroness Smith of Basildon
Leader of the Lords @LadyBasildonBaroness (Angela) Smith of Basildon is leader of the House of Lords.
The role, which she shadowed in opposition, sees her responsible for delivery of the government’s legislative programme in the Upper House.
She was an MP for Basildon throughout the last Labour government from 1997 to 2010, serving as a minister under Sir Tony Blair and Gordon Brown.
She became a life peer in the 2010 Dissolution Honours List and is also patron of an animal welfare charity.
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Alan Campbell
Leader of the Commons @alancampbellmpSir Alan Campbell is the leader of the House of Commons, replacing Lucy Powell.
In the role, he is responsible for delivering the government’s legislative programme, by working closely with the chief whip to manage Commons business, like motions and debates.
He was previously chief whip, responsible for making sure MPs vote in line with party policy.
Sir Alan has been MP for Tynemouth since 1997 and was Sir Keir Starmer’s opposition chief whip, but he also has experience in the Government Whips’ Office under Sir Tony Blair.
The former history teacher was knighted in 2019.
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Jonathan Reynolds
Chief Whip @jreynoldsMPJonathan Reynolds is the chief whip in the House of Commons and will attend cabinet.
The job of chief whip is to ensure party discipline in the House of Commons. It means he is responsible for making sure MPs vote in line with party policy.
The son of a fireman, Reynolds grew up in Sunderland - and still supports the city’s football club - but he went to university in Manchester, where he joined the Labour Party and chose to remain after graduating.
Reynolds, who has described himself as a Christian socialist, has been the MP for Stalybridge and Hyde in Greater Manchester since 2010 - he had been an assistant to the constituency’s previous MP James Purnell.
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Richard Hermer
Attorney GeneralRichard Hermer KC is Attorney General - the chief legal adviser to the government - and attends cabinet.
It is a surprise appointment since Emily Thornberry had shadowed the role in opposition.
Hermer is not an MP and will be given a life peerage to allow him to sit in the House of Lords.
He has 31 years of experience at the bar, and has focused on human rights, public and environmental law.
In the role he will also oversee the Crown Prosecution Service, which Sir Keir Starmer led between 2008 and 2013.
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Baroness Chapman
Foreign Office minister @JennyChapmanBaroness Chapman of Darlington is International Development Minister with responsibilities for Latin America and the Caribbean. She attends cabinet.
Her appointment followed the resignation of her predecessor, Anneliese Dodds, over the prime minister's cuts to the aid budget in order to fund an increase in defence spending.
The former Darlington MP was once Sir Keir Starmer's political adviser and ran his campaign to lead the Labour Party in 2020. She lost her lost North-East "red wall" seat in the 2019 general election.
She was awarded a life peerage by Sir Keir in 2020.
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James Murray
Chief Secretary to the Treasury @jamesmurray_ldnJames Murray was promoted from his former role of exchequer secretary to the Treasury and will attend cabinet.
In this position, effectively acting as deputy to the Chancellor, Murray will be responsible for overseeing government spending and encouraging investment in infrastructure across the UK, including housing.
He became MP for Ealing North in 2019, holding the seat for Labour after Stephen Pound, the previous MP, decided not to stand for re-election.
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Anna Turley
Minister Without Portfolio @annaturleyAnna Turley serves as Labour party chair and minister without portfolio, and will attend cabinet.
She has been promoted from the Whips Office and is replacing the chancellor's sister, Ellie Reeves, who has become solicitor general.
Turley was re-elected as MP for Redcar in North Yorkshire in 2024, having previously represented the constituency from 2015-19.