LAST UPDATE | 5 Jul 2024

THE FIRST MINISTERIAL appointments in British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s new Labour cabinet are rolling in as MPs are arriving at 10 Downing Street to receive their new briefs.

Many high-profile MPs, and notably many female MPs, have arrived at the Prime Minister’s residence in the last hour, such as Angela Rayner, Ed Miliband and Rachel Reeves.

Deputy Labour leader Angela Rayner was the first Minister to be appointed, with the ‘Levelling Up, Housing and Communities‘ brief, along with the role of Deputy Prime Minister.

Starmer has appointed Rachel Reeves as the Chancellor of the Exchequer – the minister in charge of the the United Kingdom’s finances. Reeves is the first female politician to be appointed to the role.

Rachel Reeves after becoming the first woman to take charge of the National Treasury. Alamy Alamy

Hilary Benn, who served as Shadow minister for Labour since last September, has been appointed as the Northern Ireland Secretary.

Separately, Ian Murray was appointed as Secretary of State for Scotland while Jo Stevens was appointed as Secretary of State for Wales.

Scottish MP Pat McFadden has been appointed as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, the same position he held in the Shadow cabinet.

The ministerial role is a senior coordinator role in Government and makes McFadden the most senior Minister in the Cabinet Office, apart from the Prime Minister.

David Lammy, who has been a serving MP since 2000 for Tottenham, has been appointed as the Foreign Secretary.

Tánaiste and foreign affairs minister Micheál Martin has spoken with Lammy upon his appointment. Martin said the pair discussed the Middle East, Ukraine, the United Kingdom’s relationship with the EU and local issues.

“There is much for us to discuss and I am looking forward to engaging on all these issues with the Foreign Secretary over the period ahead,” he said.

Yvette Cooper, a Labour MP since 1997, has been appointed as the Home Secretary, in charge of internal affairs – such as migration.

Cooper told reporters shortly after her appointment that she plans to increase police presence on British streets and take action towards “criminal boat gangs” who she said are responsible for trafficking people into the United Kingdom.

John Healey, a former housing minister, was appointed as Secretary for Defence.

Shabana Mahmood, an Oxford trained barrister and Labour MP since 2010, has been appointed as Justice minister.

Wes Streeting, an MP since 2015, has been appointed to his first ministerial role as Secretary for Health and Social Care.

Similarly, Bridget Phillipson, an MP since 2010, was appointed as Secretary of State for Education - her first ministerial role and her first time as a Government MP.

Ed Miliband, a notable climate activist and a former leader of opposition, has been appointed as Energy and Net Zero Secretary, a role with greater importance since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

Miliband arrives at 10 Downing Street in London. Alamy Alamy

Liz Kendall, who was first appointed by Miliband as an opposition front bencher in 2011, as been appointed as Secretary of State for Work and Pensions

Jonathan Reynolds MP was appointed as Business and Trade Secretary as well as the head of the State’s trade regulator.

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Peter Kyle was appointed as Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology and Louise Haigh, the youngest member of Cabinet, was appointed as Secretary of State for Transport.

Steve Reed has been appointed Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Secretary.

Lisa Nandy, who had been serving as the shadow minister for international development, has been appointed as Secretary for Culture, Media and Sport. 

Thangam Debbonaire, who had been overseeing the culture brief in the Shadow cabinet and who was largely expected to be appointed as the Government minister, was not re-elected in her constituency yesterday.

While Labour won a landslide victory in yesterday’s election, it only won just over a third of the popular vote – the lowest portion of the vote held by a majority Government of this size ever.

Starmer and the Labour Party looked to be well prepared for a general election after one was called by former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak in late May.

It is believed by many political commentators that this Labour cabinet would’ve been decided by Starmer months in advance. Starmer is also expected to make the gender balance ratio of the ministerial appointments as close to 1:1 as possible.

In Britain, opposition members hold what are known as ‘Shadow Minister’ positions. This arrangement allows a member of opposition to propose new laws or changes to existing legislative in one specific brief.

So far, Starmer has directly transferred MPs into their briefs from the Shadow cabinet into his new Government cabinet, a move that was expected by many of the MPs.

More as we get it.