The conservative British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has restructured his cabinet after a good quarter of a year in office. Downing Street said a new Department for Energy Security – led by former Business Secretary Grant Shapps – should ensure energy supplies and lower gas and electricity bills. Shapps is also responsible for driving down inflation – one of Sunak’s key promises.
The new department will be separated from the Ministry of Economic Affairs, which in turn will merge with the Ministry of Commerce. The head of department is the former trade minister, Kemi Badenoch. Also new is a Department of Science, Innovation and Technology, to be headed by Michelle Donelan. Their previous department has been reduced to the topic of digital and now takes care of culture, media and sport. MP Lucy Frazer will take the lead.
The reorganization was triggered by the expulsion of the previous Conservative Secretary-General, Nadhim Zahawi, who sat at the cabinet table as a minister with no particular area of responsibility. His successor will be the previous Secretary of State for Trade, Greg Hands.
With the reshuffle, commentators say the prime minister wants to get back on the offensive. Just over 100 days after taking office, Sunak is already under considerable pressure. It is true that he calmed the financial markets, which had been thrown into chaos by the economic policies of his predecessor Liz Truss. However, scandals keep his party busy and Sunak has not been able to set his own accents so far. The government is just as unable to get a grip on the strikes that have been raging on the railways, in the health service and other sectors as it is on the increasing number of illegal entries. All polls are currently predicting a resounding defeat in the parliamentary elections planned for 2024.
Truss pushes back into the public eye
In addition, Sunak should feel the pressure of his two predecessors. Ex-Prime Minister Boris Johnson has been involved in politics again for weeks. Large donations and foreign trips to Kyiv and Washington give the impression that Johnson is aiming for a managerial position or even his old post at Downing Street.
And Liz Truss is also back: in a long article for the conservative newspaper Sunday Telegraph and in an interview with the Conservative Magazine’s TV channel Spectator on Monday she made it clear that she still believes her policy is the right one. With its low-tax policy, it served a conservative dogma, but shocked the financial markets with its purely debt-financed project.
The fact that she has become the prime minister with the shortest term in office is largely due to others – “a very powerful economic establishment and a lack of political support”. By insisting she was right after all, she was suggesting that Sunak’s dovish, confidence-building fiscal policy was wrong, the BBC commented.