Searches on Google, external for Stephen Barclay have shot up since he was announced as the new Brexit secretary this afternoon.

And many people on Twitter have been joking about not having much idea of who he is.

Responding to Amber Rudd's appointment as work and pensions secretary, Labour's shadow minister for the Cabinet office Jon Trickett says: "After enforcing Theresa May’s hostile environment in the Home Office, Amber Rudd will now be in charge of the DWP’s hostile environment for disabled people and the poorest in society.

“With Universal Credit in absolute shambles, appointing a disgraced former minister who was only recently forced to resign for her role in another scandal is a desperate choice by a weak prime minister.”

Image source, Reuters

France's Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire has launched a withering attack on pro-Brexit politicians, calling them irresponsible liars who had made false promises about a bright future for the UK.

Mr Le Maire said the truth was that Brexit "would end in a nightmare".

Radio 4 PM

Image source, UK Parliament

Kwasi Kwarteng also joins the government's Brexit department as a parliamentary under secretary.

The Conservative MP for Spelthorne was elected in 2010 and backed Leave in the EU referendum.

Earlier this week, he tweeted that it was "excellent" the cabinet had supported the draft Brexit deal.

He went to Eton on a full scholarship, holds a doctorate in British history from the University of Cambridge and has written several books.

He also appeared on University Challenge in 1995 and called Jeremy Paxman "very scary".

And on his website, he says his political hero is Winston Churchill, his favourite actor is Robert De Niro and his best quality is a "decent sense of humour".

BBC News Channel

Another EU referendum would take 24 weeks to organise, says the BBC's Brussels correspondent Adam Fleming.

"That's the timetable that's been calculated by boffins at UCL who looked into this.

"That's the time it would take to pass legislation in Parliament to lay the groundwork for the referendum to take place legally.

"Then there's a statutory period where the Electoral Commission would have to test the question with the public to make sure it was widely understood.

"Then you'd have the period it takes to get the logistics ready, the polling stations and the cards.

"And then you'd have the referendum campaign itself as well which I think would be a mandated 10-week period.

"There's a few theories about bits of that that could be truncated and maybe you could do it in a shorter time.

"But, there's one massive hurdle - the prime minister and government do not want to have one."

Amber Rudd resigned as home secretary in April after controversy over the treatment of the Windrush generation.

She came under fire for the government's treatment of Commonwealth migrants and their relatives and the wider impact of its "hostile environment" policy designed to deter illegal immigration.

Now, the official Twitter account of the Labour Party's whips tweets...

Downing Street has announced that the Queen has also approved the following appointments:

• Stephen Hammond MP to be a Minister of State in the Department of Health and Social Care.
• John Penrose MP to be a Minister of State in the Northern Ireland Office.
• Kwasi Kwarteng MP to be a Parliamentary Under Secretary of State in the Department for Exiting the European Union.

Iain Watson
Political correspondent

New Brexit Secretary Steve Barclay is a former health minister and Downing Street have said he will continue the preparations for a deal or no deal in his new role.

The prime minister was taking part in a conference call with constituency chairmen at 4.30pm.

When asked if Theresa May just wanted to get a confidence vote out of the way, her spokesman said "that's not a sentiment I have heard".

Downing Street have described Amber Rudd, the new work and pensions secretary, as "an experienced secretary of state".

On the issue of Windrush, the crisis which she resigned over in April this year, Amber Rudd has apologised and said she hadn't been properly supported in the role.

Image source, Conservative Party

New Brexit Secretary Steve Barclay voted to leave the EU in 2016.

A spokesperson for the PM says his role "will be different to that held by Dominic Raab".

They say "the role will be focused on domestic preparedness for Brexit, and to see the Brexit legislation through Parliament".

May herself will personally oversee negotiations with the EU on the future framework, and Barclay will focus on the domestic preparedness for Brexit and getting the draft withdrawal agreement through Parliament.