Sir Keir Starmer has made further sweeping changes to his top team with a junior minister reshuffle announced by Downing Street on Saturday.
They include the appointment of former home secretary Jacqui Smith to the Department for Work and Pensions, and Jason Stockwood, who had a senior role at dating site match.com, to the Department of Business and Trade.
The prime minister has also made a number of changes to the Home Office, in a bid to get a grip on illegal immigration.
It comes as his chief secretary Darren Jones denied that Labour were in crisis, and rebuffed Nigel Farage’s prediction that there would be a general election in 2027.
Asked if Angela Rayner’s resignation over her tax affairs would cause a split in the party, Mr Jones said: “Nigel Farage is wrong there. The Labour Party is not going to split and there won’t be an early election.”
Starmer moved quickly to appoint David Lammy deputy prime minister while Yvette Cooper has been moved from home secretary to take up a new role as foreign secretary, with justice secretary Shabana Mahmood replacing her at the Home Office.
Mr Lammy also becomes justice secretary as well as deputy PM. Lucy Powell, the leader of the House of Commons, and Scottish secretary Ian Murray have been sacked from their roles. In total, a dozen cabinet positions were changed during the reshuffle.
Ex dating site boss now in charge of Britain’s trade deals
The former managing director of Match.com has been appointed to the government as a minister of state in the Department for Business and Trade and the Treasury.
English businessman Jason Stockwood – who previously stood in the Greater Lincolnshire Mayoral race under the Labour banner – has been nominated for a life peerage in order to bring him into government, where he will help with Britain’s economic and trade policy.
Junior minister reshuffle announced as Starmer makes critical changes
In a statement, Downing Street has listed the junior minister reshuffle which has been approved this morning.
They include:
- Jason Stockwood as Minister of State (Minister for Investment) jointly in the Department for Business and Trade and HM Treasury.
- Dan Jarvis MP as Minister of State in the Cabinet Office. He will remain Minister of State for the Home Department.
- Rt Hon Baroness Smith of Malvern as Minister of State (Minister for Skills) in the Department for Work and Pensions. She will remain Minister of State (Minister for Skills and Minister for Women and Equalities) in the Department for Education.
- Lord Vallance KCB as Minister of State in the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero. He will remain Minister of State in the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology.
- Michael Shanks MP as Minister of State jointly in the Department for Business and Trade and Department for Energy Security and Net Zero.
- Alison McGovern MP as Minister of State in the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government.
- Dame Angela Eagle DBE MP as Minister of State in the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.
- Rt Hon Dame Diana Johnson DBE MP as Minister of State in the Department for Work and Pensions.
- Sarah Jones MP as Minister of State for the Home Department.
First junior minister confirms departure as reshuffle continues
Justin Madders MP has been the first junior minister to confirmed that he is leaving the government as Sir Keir Starmer’s reshuffle continues.
In a post on X, he wrote: “It has been a real privilege to serve as Minister for Employment Rights & begin delivering on our plan to make work pay.
“Sadly it is now time to pass the baton on – I wish my successor well & will do what I can to help them make sure the ERB is implemented as intended.”
He added that it is “disappointing” that he did not get to see the legislation through to Royal Assent.
Nigel Farage confirms he would send women asylum seekers back to Taliban in Afghanistan
It comes after confusion over the Reform UK leader’s position on the issue, after he initially said he would deport women back to Afghanistan, before later saying he wouldn’t.
But he said the UK has a “duty of care” if a four-year-old were to arrive in a dinghy.
“For clarity, those that cross the English Channel will be detained and deported, men and women,” he added.
“Children, we’ll have to think about.”
Mr Farage faced condemnation last month when he said everyone who arrives in the UK via small boat, including women and children, would be detained.
Read the full article here from our political correspondent Millie Cooke:
Reform UK to get rid of ‘woke policing’ if elected
A Reform UK government would do away with “woke policing”, MP Sarah Pochin has said.
Speaking to the party’s conference in Birmingham, the Runcorn and Helsby MP said: “We have had enough of woke policing.
“Police appearing to sympathise with protest groups that simply do not reflect the views of the majority of the British people.
“I am sure that the police themselves would like nothing more than to get back to tackling crime, policing with impartiality and to protecting the British people.
“A Reform government will address these issues and restore a strong police presence on our streets.”
Farage rows back on pledge to stop small boats within fortnight of election win
Nigel Farage has rowed back on a pledge he made to the party’s conference to stop small boat crossings within two weeks of taking office.
The Reform UK leader had told an audience at the NEC in Birmingham on Friday it would take a fortnight of him entering Downing Street to halt arrivals, if he won an election.
However, he told the BBC that instead it would rely on any Government he led passing laws first.
In an interview due to be aired on BBC One on Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, he said the country would need a “legal base” to halt crossings.
He said he would introduce similar laws to those passed by Australian prime minister Tony Abbott over a decade ago to stop arrivals from Indonesia.
Mr Farage told the broadcaster: “As soon as the law is in place. As soon as you have the ability to detain and deport, you’ll stop it in two weeks.”
He had told the conference on Friday lunchtime: “We will stop the boats and we will detain and deport those who illegally break into our country doing what nearly every normal country around the rest of the world does.”
When asked by GB News on Saturday whether he expected any legislation to be passed quickly, given wranglings in Parliament over previous immigration law – he said he was hopeful.
He said: “Given the mood of the nation, the legislation needs to go through as quickly as it’s possible.”
He told Sky News: “We have to get the legislation through as quickly as is humanly possible.”
Jacob Rees-Mogg denies speculation he has joined Reform UK
Jacob Rees-Mogg said his daughter has joined Reform “but I’m not going to”.
He said he was “having his arm twisted” by his daughter, who he was “embarrassed” to say had joined Reform.
Mr Rees-Mogg said: “Mary has joined Reform … but I’m not going to.
“I’m going to remain a Tory because I think it is fundamental that we bring the family of the right together.”
Speaking at an event at the Reform conference alongside historian David Starkey, he said the “family of the right” needed to unite in a first-past-the-post system to win a majority.
How did Angela Rayner manage to underpay stamp duty? A legal expert explains
The debate over former deputy prime minister Angela Rayner’s tax arrangements demonstrated that there are few topics more complex than the law of trusts. It was politically awkward, to say the least, when a deputy PM and housing secretary had to admit getting it wrong and underpaying £40,000 in stamp duty.
In Rayner’s case, a probable oversight and a trust created with legitimate intentions got caught up in legislation designed to discourage tax avoidance and ownership of a second home. Of course, it also left her open to accusations of hypocrisy, as a member of a government that championed higher taxes for second homeowners.
Read the full analysis here:
Same faces, different positions’: Will Starmer’s reshuffle change anything?
As the dust settles on Keir Starmer’s first major reshuffle and politicos begin to scour the names of the ministers in his new cabinet, one could be forgiven to wonder whether anything much had changed at all.
Read the full analysis here from our political editor David Maddox:
Who is due to speak at the Reform UK conference today?
Lucy Connolly will appear on stage at the Reform Party conference on Saturday before Nigel Farage closes the event in Birmingham.
The former childminder and wife of a Conservative councillor was jailed for stirring up racial hatred against asylum seekers in the aftermath of the Southport murders last year.
The party’s deputy leader Richard Tice is then due to give an address before Mr Farage speaks to close the two-day event at the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham.
The main stage will also see a speech titled “Make Britain Healthy Again” by Dr Assem Malhotra, a cardiologist who campaigned against the use of the Covid mRNA vaccines.
