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New faces in huge Cabinet revamp |
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Gordon Brown has appointed Jacqui Smith as Britain’s first female home secretary in a huge Cabinet overhaul. jacqui smith takes over at the home office Alistair Darling becomes chancellor, David Miliband foreign secretary, Alan Johnson health secretary and Peter Hain work and pensions. Mr Brown’s closest political ally Ed Balls will be the newly-created schools and children secretary. Ruth Kelly goes to transport, Jack Straw is the new justice secretary and Hilary Benn moves to environment. The newly-appointed ministers are gathering in 10 Downing Street for the first Cabinet meeting of Mr Brown’s premiership.
There are 11 members of the old Cabinet – including Tony Blair and John Prescott – who are not in Mr Brown’s first administration. Mr Brown has created three new departments: the Department for Children, Schools and Families, the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform and the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills. The Department for Trade and Industry has been abolished, along with the Department for Education and Skills which has been split into two. New Cabinet faces include James Purnell, who takes over as the culture secretary from Tessa Jowell and Andy Burnham, who becomes chief secretary to the Treasury. David Miliband, who at 41 becomes the youngest foreign secretary since David Owen in 1977, said he felt “tremendously honoured”. He pledged a “diplomacy that is patient as well as purposeful, which listens as well as leads”. Jacqui Smith, formerly Labour’s chief whip, is perhaps the biggest surprise in the new line-up. BBC Political Editor Nick Robinson said she was highly regarded by Brownites. But he said she faced a tough job even with a slimmed down Home Office. Prisons and other functions now come under the control of new Justice Secretary Jack Straw, who also becomes the first MP to take up the post of Lord Chancellor. ‘Heavyweights’ departing Douglas Alexander, who was named as Labour’s general election coordinator at the weekend, takes over at the department for international development, which is expected to be given an enhanced role under Mr Brown. Harriet Harman, who was elected deputy leader of the Labour Party, and will be taking over as party chairman, becomes leader of the House of Commons. Hazel Blears, who was among the five MPs to lose out to Ms Harman in the deputy race, becomes communities secretary. John Hutton, who has been replaced as work and pensions secretary by Peter Hain, will become business and industry secretary.
Shaun Woodward, best known for defecting from the Conservatives to Labour in 1999, will replace Mr Hain as Northern Ireland Secretary – the job turned down by Lib Dem peer Paddy Ashdown. Former defence secretary Geoff Hoon is the new Labour Party chief whip. Yvette Cooper, Ed Balls’ wife, becomes housing minister, attending Cabinet when needed. Also attending Cabinet will be Tessa Jowell, who becomes Olympics minister, Attorney General Baroness Scotland and Lords Chief Whip Lord Grocott. Former United Nations deputy secretary-general, Sir Mark Malloch Brown, has been granted a peerage in order to take up the post of minister for Africa, Asia and the UN. He will not have Cabinet rank but will attend Cabinet meetings. Several heavyweight figures in predecessor Tony Blair’s Cabinet are going. John Reid is retiring as home secretary, Margaret Beckett is leaving the role of foreign secretary and Baroness Amos is no longer to be leader of the House of Lords. Patricia Hewitt, who has elderly parents in Australia, said she was quitting as health secretary, and resigning from the government, for “personal reasons”. Former Labour chairman and consumer affairs minister Ian McCartney turned down the offer of a government job, telling Mr Brown it was time for some “fresh faces”. Mid-East envoy It is thought unlikely that a replacement will be announced for outgoing Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott.
Before entering 10 Downing Street on Wednesday, the new prime minister said: “I will try my utmost. This is my promise to all of the people of Britain. And now let the work of change begin.” After stepping down as prime minister, Mr Blair also quit as MP for Sedgefield to become a Middle East peace envoy on behalf of the EU, US, UN and Russia. This will prompt a by-election, expected to take place in mid-July. |
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Politicians enter Big Brother row |
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Gordon Brown has become involved in the row over alleged racism on Celebrity Big Brother during a visit to India.The chancellor said the issue had been raised repeatedly during his trip, adding that Britain should be “seen as a country of fairness and tolerance”. Prime Minister Tony Blair said: “We should oppose racism in all its forms.” The programme drew its third-largest audience of the series amid more than 21,500 complaints about housemates’ treatment of Indian Bollywood star Shilpa Shetty. In other developments:
Condemnation During his visit to India, Mr Brown said he had heard about the vast amount of complaints regarding the reality show. “I want Britain to be seen as a country of fairness and tolerance. Anything detracting from this I condemn.”
Asked about the issue during prime minister’s questions, Tony Blair said he could not comment on the Channel 4 reality show because he had not seen it. A Downing Street spokesman later said that the UK response to the programme showed “there is no level of toleration in this country for anything which, rightly or wrongly, is perceived to be racist”. The Indian government is awaiting a report on the programme and could raise the matter with the UK. Anand Sharma, India’s junior minister for external affairs, said: “The government will take appropriate measures once it gets to know the full details. Racism has no place in civilised society.” Audience boost The story featured on the front pages of several Indian newspapers on Wednesday.
Shilpa Shetty’s family issued a statement saying they were “overwhelmed by the outpouring of public support for Shilpa not just in India, but from across the globe”. As well as approximately 19,300 complaints to Ofcom, a further 3,000 have been made directly to Channel 4. Hertfordshire Police said two e-mail threats against housemates had been sent to Channel 4, but would not say if they related to the alleged racism. Celebrity Big Brother’s main highlights show averaged 4.5 million viewers on Tuesday evening, up from 3.5 million on Monday and 3.8 million on Tuesday last week. Bookmaker William Hill, offering odds of 6/4 on Shetty to win the series, said: “She has stuck in there and if she now picks up the public sympathy vote, punters certainly believe she will be very hard to beat.”
Housemates Jade Goody, Danielle Lloyd and Jo O’Meara have been seen making fun of Shetty’s accent. On Monday night’s episode, former S Club 7 star O’Meara reportedly suggested that Indians were thin because they were always ill as a result of undercooking their food. The trio also complained that Shetty had touched other housemates’ food with her hands. “You don’t know where those hands have been,” said former beauty queen Lloyd. ‘Absolutely absurd’ Leo Sayer, who fled from the house last week, said the alleged bullies were “all being very stupid, but I think basically they are good people”. “I wouldn’t put them down as nasty people,” the singer told Capital Radio. He added: “The only way there is going to be peace in the house is for everybody at least to show each other some respect.”
A friend of Lloyd, Leeandra Anderson, said that the suggestion the housemate was racist was “absolutely absurd”. “I’ve known Danielle for five years now and not once has she had a racist undertone in her voice ever,” she told BBC Radio Five Live. A programme spokesman previously defended the decision to show the offending footage. “The social interactions of the group are part of the Big Brother story and viewers have a right to see these portrayed accurately.” |
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