For the first time, a UK Cabinet without a white man in the four great offices of state

By Neil Behrmann

NEW British Prime Minister Liz Truss - who was formally sworn in on Tuesday (Sep 6) after an audience with Queen Elizabeth in Scotland - is already creating history when it comes to her Cabinet picks.

The 47-year-old - only the third woman to become prime minister - is primed to appoint the first Cabinet in the United Kingdom’s history in which none of the four great offices of state will be held by a British-born white male.

While her critics may argue that she is putting loyalists in these top positions, the backgrounds and experience of the likely key office-holders show they are more than qualified to do the job.

Kwasi Kwarteng, who will become the new Chancellor of the Exchequer and the first Black person to hold that position, is the son of Ghanaian immigrants. He received a scholarship to Eton and then read classics and history at Cambridge. He later went to Harvard University on a Kennedy Scholarship, and earned a PhD in economic history from the University of Cambridge.

Kwarteng has served as Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy since January 2021 and has been a close ally of Truss since they both entered the House of Commons together in 2010.

Suella Braverman, the attorney-general under former prime minister Boris Johnson, is poised to take over Priti Patel as the new Home Secretary, making her only the second British member of parliament of Indian origin to hold that position.

Braverman’s mother was born in Mauritius and her father came from Kenya. She went to Cambridge and became chair of the university’s Conservative Association. She read law and became a barrister, before going on to serve as a member of parliament in 2015 and attorney-general in 2020.

The person set to take over from Truss as the UK’s new Foreign Secretary is James Cleverly, the current Secretary of State for Education. He was formerly from the Foreign Office, where he served as Minister of State for Europe and North America, and Minister for Middle East and North Africa.

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Cleverly’s father is British and his mother came from Sierra Leone. He received his degree in hospitality management from the Polytechnic of West London, and later became an MP and was co-chair of the Conservative Party from 2019 to 2020.

Therese Coffey, one of Truss’s closest political allies, is expected to be appointed as Deputy Prime Minister as well as the Health Secretary. Observers say the appointment of Coffey - the current Work and Pensions Secretary - is a strong signal that Truss sees the need for action to deal with rising patient waiting lists for both routine and emergency care.

Anne-Marie Trevelyan, who was appointed Secretary of State for International Trade and President of the Board of Trade in September last year, is expected to retain her roles.

Jacob Rees-Mogg, meanwhile, is the likely Business Secretary. He is a vocal advocate of deregulation and reforming workers’ rights, in line with Truss’ promised supply-side reforms to boost economic growth. He will, however, be expected to face problems with an increasing number of unions that are going or will go on strike.

In his final speech as prime minister on Tuesday, Johnson said it was “time for politics to be over”, adding it was time for the country to give its backing to Truss. “That is what the people of this country want, that’s what they need and that’s what they deserve,” he said.

Johnson said the UK would “continue to have the strength to give people the cash they need to get through this energy crisis that has been caused by (Russian President Vladimir) Putin’s vicious war”.

He added: “(The Conservative government will) do everything we can to get people through this crisis. This country will endure it and we will win.”