Opening summary
Prime minister Keir Starmer had wanted to carry out his reshuffle on a “slightly slower timetable”, PA reports, but it was “brought forward as a consequence of the former deputy prime minister resigning”, new chief secretary Darren Jones has said this morning, after Angela Rayner stepped down on Friday.
But there will not be an early election, Jones said. Asked about Reform UK leader Nigel Farage’s suggestion that Rayner’s resignation would open up internal Labour splits and prompt a general election as early as 2027, the chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster told Sky News:
Nigel Farage is wrong there. The Labour party is not going to split and there won’t be an early election.”
Rayner stood down from the government after the prime minister’s ethics adviser found she had breached the ministerial code over her underpayment of stamp duty on her £800,000 seaside flat. Sir Laurie Magnus found that Rayner had “acted with integrity and with a dedicated and exemplary commitment to public service”, but concluded she had breached the ministerial code over her tax affairs.
After it was put to Jones that the government was in crisis and “ripping it all up and starting again”, he told Sky News:
I was put into this new role as chief secretary to the prime minister. I’ve been alongside him this week in Number 10 and the prime minister was very clear on Monday that coming back into this new term, this was the start of the second chapter of the Labour government.
“The fact is, the prime minister had been planning to do a reshuffle on a slightly slower timetable, and started to think about putting the ministers he wanted in the places to really drive on delivering reform in line with the public’s priorities.”
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In further moves: David Lammy takes over from Rayner as deputy prime minister and is also appointed as the justice secretary.
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Yvette Cooper is the new foreign secretary and Shabana Mahmood becomes home secretary.
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Steve Reed takes over Rayner’s former housing brief while Peter Kyle is named business secretary and Liz Kendall is the new science secretary.
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Emma Reynolds will be environment secretary while Douglas Alexander will be Scotland secretary. Rachel Reeves retains her role as chancellor.
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Nigel Farage has said there is every chance of a general election in 2027 and declared at Reform’s conference in Birmingham that he will run on a pledge to ‘stop the boats’ within two weeks of entering No 10.
Key events
Darren Jones denied there was instability in the Labour government amidst the shuffle brought on by Angela Rayner’s resignation, and said it was “quite normal” for administrations to have a reshuffle around this time.
Asked whether he understood that reshuffle could be seen by voters as a sign of instability, the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster told BBC Breakfast: “It’s not instability insofar as the outcomes that we’re delivering are the same.”
He added: “Look, I think it’s quite normal for governments to have a reshuffle about this time coming into government.”
Jones had said the reshuffle was due to take place on a “slightly slower timetable” but was brought forward by Rayner’s resignation following the finding that she’d broken the ministerial code.
Opening summary
Prime minister Keir Starmer had wanted to carry out his reshuffle on a “slightly slower timetable”, PA reports, but it was “brought forward as a consequence of the former deputy prime minister resigning”, new chief secretary Darren Jones has said this morning, after Angela Rayner stepped down on Friday.
But there will not be an early election, Jones said. Asked about Reform UK leader Nigel Farage’s suggestion that Rayner’s resignation would open up internal Labour splits and prompt a general election as early as 2027, the chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster told Sky News:
Nigel Farage is wrong there. The Labour party is not going to split and there won’t be an early election.”
Rayner stood down from the government after the prime minister’s ethics adviser found she had breached the ministerial code over her underpayment of stamp duty on her £800,000 seaside flat. Sir Laurie Magnus found that Rayner had “acted with integrity and with a dedicated and exemplary commitment to public service”, but concluded she had breached the ministerial code over her tax affairs.
After it was put to Jones that the government was in crisis and “ripping it all up and starting again”, he told Sky News:
I was put into this new role as chief secretary to the prime minister. I’ve been alongside him this week in Number 10 and the prime minister was very clear on Monday that coming back into this new term, this was the start of the second chapter of the Labour government.
“The fact is, the prime minister had been planning to do a reshuffle on a slightly slower timetable, and started to think about putting the ministers he wanted in the places to really drive on delivering reform in line with the public’s priorities.”
-
In further moves: David Lammy takes over from Rayner as deputy prime minister and is also appointed as the justice secretary.
-
Yvette Cooper is the new foreign secretary and Shabana Mahmood becomes home secretary.
-
Steve Reed takes over Rayner’s former housing brief while Peter Kyle is named business secretary and Liz Kendall is the new science secretary.
-
Emma Reynolds will be environment secretary while Douglas Alexander will be Scotland secretary. Rachel Reeves retains her role as chancellor.
-
Nigel Farage has said there is every chance of a general election in 2027 and declared at Reform’s conference in Birmingham that he will run on a pledge to ‘stop the boats’ within two weeks of entering No 10.
