Branwen Jeffreys
Education Editor

It’s going to be a fractious start for the new Education Secretary Kit Malthouse. School and college budgets in England are under pressure from rising costs, including energy bills.

The National Education Union will start balloting its members on teachers’ pay later this month. A starting salary of £30,000 for teachers in England has not stopped the pay for experienced teachers falling far behind rising costs.

And the backdrop to all that is the lasting damage of the pandemic has caused to children’s education.

New government data today show 59% of children finishing primary school at the expected standard of reading, writing and maths. This is fewer than in 2019, and far below the target of 90% promised by 2030.

That will make it hard to deliver on the promise to parents that children will not be allowed to fall behind.

Image source, Reuters

Kit Malthouse has been appointed as the new education secretary.

He takes over the role from James Cleverly who's been made the new Foreign Secretary.

So far, news of tonight's cabinet appointments has come from Downing Street, but we've just had word of another promotion from a rather difference source.

Ireland's Foreign Minister Simon Coveney has tweeted his congratulations to Chris Heaton-Harris, who he says has been made the UK's Northern Ireland Secretary.

Coveney tweets: "I’ve known him since we were both members of the European Parliament and I look forward to working closely with him in the coming months. First job - a functioning executive for NI."

He's just been spotted walking into No 10 - we'll let you know if and when Downing Street confirms the appointment.

Image source, PA Media

Chloe Smith replaces new Health Secretary Therese Coffey as work and pensions secretary.

She had been a minister in the department since September 2021 and was an early supporter of Liz Truss’s leadership bid.

In June 2021 the mother-of-two announced she had been given the all clear from breast cancer after her diagnosis the previous November and says she is now back to full health and full of energy.

A keen cyclist, Smith highlights her interest in transport and her work to help reduce youth unemployment in her constituency of Norwich North.

Before entering parliament in 2009 - following a by-election sparked by the resignation of the sitting Labour MP after the expenses scandal - she worked for accountancy and professional service firm Deloitte.

Image source, PA Media

Kemi Badenoch has entered the cabinet as international trade secretary after surprising many by reaching the last four in the leadership contest.

A former minister in the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities and equalities minister, she did not endorse any of her rivals in the leadership race.

Badenoch, who has been outspoken on issues such as gender-neutral toilets which she opposes, stood on an "anti-woke" platform and argued for the state to be slimmed down.

The former software engineer worked in banking and later as a director of the Spectator magazine before being elected to the London Assembly.

She entered the Commons as MP for Saffron Walden in 2017, and lists her interests as including engineering and technology, social mobility and integration.

Image source, Reuters

Simon Clarke has been promoted to the full cabinet as levelling up, housing and communities secretary, taking over from Greg Clark. He held the position after replacing Michael Gove in July.

Clarke was previously chief secretary to the Treasury but chose to support Liz Truss for the leadership rather than his former boss Rishi Sunak.

The MP for Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland was previously a minister in the housing, communities and local government department, and describes himself as a lifelong Boro fan.

Clarke, who has agoraphobia, is a qualified solicitor who worked as a policy specialist on health and education before being elected in 2017.

Image source, Reuters

Jacob Rees-Mogg has been appointed as business secretary after being one of the first MPs to back Liz Truss for the leadership.

One of the Conservative Party's highest profile Brexiteers, he was previously in the cabinet as Brexit opportunities and government efficiency minister and before that had been an attending member as Commons leader.

Before becoming an MP, Rees-Mogg worked in finance, originally based in Hong Kong and later moving back to London.

He set up his own investment management company in 2007.

The father-of-six was elected MP for North East Somerset in 2010 and describes himself as an avid cricket fan.

Liz Truss has accepted Volodymyr Zelensky’s invitation to visit him in Ukraine, Downing Street says.

In a statement, No 10 says the new PM reiterated the UK’s “steadfast support for Ukraine’s freedom and democracy”.

“In her first call with a counterpart since becoming prime minister, she reiterated to the Ukrainian leader that he had her full backing, and Ukraine could depend on the UK’s assistance for the long term,” the statement adds.

It goes on to say Truss "looked forward to working with the President in the coming weeks and months and was delighted to accept an invitation to visit [him] in Ukraine soon".

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says he's spoken to Liz Truss this evening.

He tweets, external: "I became the first foreign leader to have a conversation with the newly elected British PM Liz Truss."

Zelensky says he's invited her to Ukraine and thanked British people "for the major defence and economic aid for Ukraine".

"It's important that Britain is ready to further strengthen it," he adds.

Alok Sharma has been re-appointed as COP26 President, Downing Street says.

Mark Easton
Home editor

The Home Office is regarded as the most daunting of any government department for a new secretary of state.

Suella Braverman will walk into the Marsham Street headquarters knowing there are very significant political and structural problems to overcome.

On the political side, the record numbers of migrants arriving on the Kent coast is the most pressing challenge. Braverman’s predecessor’s policy solution – threatening them with being sent to Rwanda – is currently the subject of a judicial review in the High Court. It may prove not to be lawful and there are questions as to whether it really is the deterrent Priti Patel believed.

The structural issues include an asylum system that is a mess, with tens of thousands of people seeking sanctuary in the UK stuck in government-funded hotels at a cost of more than £4m a day. There are also real questions about public trust in the police.

While crime is at historically low levels, there are concerns that the cost of living crisis may see a spike in acquisitive offences.

Suella Braverman has her work cut out.

Jake Berry has been named as the new minister without portfolio.

Berry is the MP for Rossendale and Darwen in Lancashire and chairs the Northern Powerhouse Group of MPs.

Lord True has been named as the new leader of the House of Lords.

The leader of the House of Lords is a cabinet role with responsibility for getting government business through the upper house.

Image source, Reuters

Penny Mordaunt has been appointed as the new leader of the House of Commons.

In that role she'll be responsible for delivery of the government’s legislative programme.

Mordaunt endorsed Liz Truss after nearly beating her into the final two of the Conservative leadership race.

At one point the Portsmouth North MP was the bookies' favourite to be the next PM and was believed to be very popular with grassroots Tories.

Ione Wells
Political Correspondent

Lots could still change but if this reshuffle goes as we are expecting, it could mean that only one supporter of Rishi Sunak - Michael Ellis - makes it into a top cabinet job.

He’s tipped for attorney general. Some of the Tory MPs who didn’t back Liz Truss told me this week one concern they had was that she wouldn’t appoint many people from other wings of the party - to try stitch it back together from the top after a bruising contest - but instead just appoint her biggest supporters.

Image source, Reuters

The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster is responsible for running the Cabinet Office, the department that supports the prime minister. It's one of three jobs given to Nadhim Zahawi in Liz Truss's new ministerial team.

Zahawi had been chancellor of the exchequer for two months having been promoted when Rishi Sunak resigned - before that he was Boris Johnson's education secretary.

Zahawi is seen as a strong media performer and first entered the cabinet in September 2021 after overseeing the rollout of the coronavirus vaccine.

A former child refugee who fled Iraq with his parents in the 1970s, Zahawi co-founded the market research firm YouGov and is now believed to be one of the richest politicians in the Commons.

Former chancellor Nadhim Zahawi has been named chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, minister for intergovernmental relations and equalities minister.

While we await further cabinet announcements, here's a quick look back at how the day unfolded - from Boris Johnson's final speech outside No 10 to Liz Truss's first as the new prime minister:

Image source, Reuters

Brandon Lewis is in the cabinet for a third time, replacing Dominic Raab who confirmed earlier today he would be returning to the backbenches.

Lewis initially backed Nadhim Zahawi for the leadership but endorsed Liz Truss at the start of August.

He is a qualified barrister and former company director.

Brandon Lewis is appointed the new lord chancellor and justice secretary.

Lewis was Northern Ireland secretary under Boris Johnson but resigned in July.

He also held ministerial roles in the governments of David Cameron and Theresa May.