Steve Barclay, Boris Johnson’s former chief of staff, was promoted to the role of health secretary last night as the prime minister was forced into a mini-reshuffle following the resignations of two high profile cabinet ministers in another night of high drama at Westminster.
Mr Barclay replaced Sajid Javid, and Nadhim Zahawi took over from Rishi Sunak as chancellor, after Mr Johnson apologised for promoting Chris Pincher to the role of deputy chief whip – despite being told of a sexual misconduct complaint being made against the Tamworth MP.
In a statement after he was appointed, Mr Barclay said it was an “honour” to take on the health brief. “Our NHS and social care staff have showed us time and again – throughout the pandemic and beyond – what it means to work with compassion and dedication to transform lives,” he said.
Mr Barclay fought elections in Manchester Blackley (1997) and Lancaster and Wyre (2001) before eventually being elected to parliament as MP for North East Cambridgeshire in 2010, when the Conservatives formed a coalition government with the Liberal Democrats. He was on then-PM David Cameron’s ‘A-list’ of candidates and has increased his majority at each general election since.
He landed his first government job in 2015 when he was appointed assistant chief whip at the Treasury. He held two other posts there before being promoted to minister of state for the department he now leads in 2018.
Boris Johnson and Steve Barclay leave Downing Street (Stefan Rousseau/PA)
A Leave campaigner, Mr Barclay’s political career reached new heights in 2018 when former prime minister Theresa May appointed him secretary of state for leaving the European Union, a role he did until January 2020. The following month, Mr Johnson appointed him as chief secretary to the Treasury, where he remained until September last year.
Mr Johnson appointed him as minister for the cabinet office in the same month and then moved him to chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster and chief of staff in February this year. Since then, has he has become one of the PM’s most loyal allies and was heavily involved in “Operation Save Big” – a plan to save Mr Johnson’s premiership during the height of the Partygate scandal.
In his dual role as chief of staff and a cabinet office minister, Mr Barclay was part of the shadow whipping effort that successfully prevented a confidence vote on Mr Johnson’s leadership in January. The ballot was eventually triggered in June, with the MP narrowly winning it.
Before entering politics, Mr Barclay, a qualified solicitor, worked as regulator of the Financial Services Authority and head of anti-money laundering at Barclays Bank before embarking on a political career.
The son of a trade union official father and a civil servant mother, he has previously described himself as coming from a “working class Northern background” in Lancashire. The youngest of three brothers, he was in the first generation of his family to go to university, reading history at Cambridge and spending a gap year serving in the army with the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers.
Labour mocked Mr Barclay’s appointment, saying that he could well become the “shortest serving health secretary in history”.
