Rishi Sunak will shake up his Cabinet team TODAY

2023-02-07

It’s the Rishi-shuffle! Sunak will shake up his Cabinet team TODAY as he finally replaces Nadhim Zahawi as Tory chair and splits Grant Shapps’ Business department

Greg Hands is expected to be installed as the latest Conservative Party chair
Major overhaul to government departments in Rishi Sunak’s reshuffle moves

Rishi Sunak is shaking up his Cabinet today as he finally replaces Nadhim Zahawi as Tory chair and overhauls major departments.

The PM is expected to install veteran trade minister Greg Hands as the new chief at CCHQ, more than a week after his predecessor was sacked in a row over his tax affairs.

Meanwhile, Mr Sunak will move to reshape Whitehall, with Grant Shapps’ Business Department set to be split to create a separate Energy department.

The business brief is being merged with Trade, opening questions about the fate of that department’s Secretary of State Kemi Badenoch.

However, the reshuffle is not likely to affect the future of Deputy PM Dominic Raab, who faces an inquiry into bullying claims.

Rishi Sunak is set to announce a mini-reshuffle of the Cabinet today

Grant Shapps’ (left) business brief is being merged with Trade, opening questions about the fate of that department’s Secretary of State Kemi Badenoch (right)

The PM is expected to install veteran trade minister Greg Hands as the new chief at CCHQ

There are signs the Department for Culture, Media and Sport will be split in two – culture and sport, and a new science and digital unit.

The changes to business would effectively unwind previous tweaks to the machinery of government.

Theresa May merged the Department for Energy and Climate Change with the Business Department in 2016.

Energy departments also existed under the Heath, Wilson, Callaghan and Thatcher governments.

A Department of Trade and Industry was last in operation between 1983 and 2007, when it was split.

Mr Sunak is desperate to get back on the front foot as he faces barbs from predecessors Liz Truss and Boris Johnson over key planks of government policy.

Calls for early tax cuts have been growing on the Tory backbenches, while Ms Truss used a Spectator interview last night to lament the lack of a strategy to boost the economy.

Mr Sunak had seemed to be struggling to find a big hitter to take over as Tory chair, with both Brandon Lewis and Priti Patel making clear they did not want the role.

The first task of the new incumbent will be to prepare for local elections in May, which most MPs expect to be a bloodbath.

A Redfield & Wilton Strategies poll today found Labour has a 26 point lead, the biggest since Mr Sunak took over in Downing Street.

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