Dominic Raab and Michael Gove lose out as Liz Truss promoted in reshuffle

Trade Secretary moves to the Foreign Office as Tory heavyweights are demoted in Boris Johnson’s extensive shake-up

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Boris Johnson demoted Dominic Raab, gave Liz Truss the Foreign Office and moved Michael Gove out of the centre of power in a bigger-than-expected reshuffle on Wednesday.

The Prime Minister tried to strengthen the Conservative Party’s political operation as he made Oliver Dowden co-chairman and put Stephen Barclay in charge at the Cabinet Office.

There was also a shake-up at the Education Department as Gavin Williamson was sacked and replaced with Nadhim Zahawi, the minister who has overseen the successful Covid-19 vaccine rollout.

Ms Truss’s promotion, becoming the Tories’ first ever female Foreign Secretary, leaves her well positioned should she one day seek the leadership. 

The reshuffle sets the team who will drive forward the reforms Mr Johnson hopes to deliver before seeking a second full term in office.

The Telegraph understands that Mr Dowden, newly installed as party co-chairman, told his staff on Wednesday: “It’s time to go to our offices and prepare for the next election”.

Downing Street framed the overhaul as a “delivery” reshuffle, with ministers seen in Tory circles as trusted on policy asked to deliver core parts of Mr Johnson’s agenda.

But it was also a culling of ministers deemed to have made high-profile blunders or lost the support of the party base.

The Prime Minister said: “The Cabinet I have appointed today will work tirelessly to unite and level up the whole country. We will build back better from the pandemic and deliver on your priorities. Now let’s get on with the job.”

A senior government source told The Telegraph: “The Prime Minister wants optimistic, can-do, determined, smart people who will run their departments very effectively and deliver for the public.”

The reshuffle marked the biggest shake-up in Mr Johnson’s front bench since he first made appointments after taking office in July 2019, ending a period of loyalty to most of his Cabinet that has lasted more than two years.

It reflects a pivot in the Johnson premiership this autumn, along with his tax increase to pay for the NHS and social care, as a renewed focus on delivering domestic reforms is adopted after 18 months of firefighting Covid.

In all, four ministers were removed from the Cabinet: Mr Williamson, Amanda Milling as party co-chairman, Robert Jenrick as Communities Secretary and Robert Buckland as Justice Secretary.

However, the most high-profile demotion was Mr Raab, who remained in Cabinet but was stripped of one of the great offices of state, the Foreign Office.

The move came just a month after, as Foreign Secretary, he had been on the beach at a luxury hotel in Crete as Kabul, the Afghanistan capital, fell to the Taliban in what Tory MPs described Britain’s biggest foreign policy disaster in 65 years.

Mr Raab was instead appointed Justice Secretary and Lord Chancellor, plus, in a surprise move, was named Deputy Prime Minister.

Multiple government sources said that Mr Raab had pushed back hard against the demotion in private meetings with Mr Johnson on Wednesday, leading to a delay in the reshuffle.

There was speculation that the Deputy Prime Minister title – last held by Nick Clegg, the former Liberal Democrat leader during the 2010-15 coalition – was handed to Mr Raab after he resisted being demoted.

It was unclear on Wednesday whether the title came with any new responsibilities, given he already had the title of First Secretary of State, which meant standing in for Mr Johnson when he was unavailable, such as when he was hospitalised with Covid.

Mr Raab was a lawyer and will face the challenge of clearing the courts backlog triggered by the pandemic. 

Mr Raab’s demotion created space for one of the big winners of the reshuffle: Ms Truss, who became the Conservatives’ first female Foreign Secretary. Labour’s Margaret Beckett was the first woman to hold the role in 2006.

The appointment completed Ms Truss’s rise to a great office of state after stints as Environment Secretary, Justice Secretary, Chief Secretary to the Treasury and, most recently, International Trade Secretary.

Ms Truss, the Cabinet minister with the highest approval rating among Tory members according to a Conservative Home poll last month, is expected to fly to the US within days to attend the UN General Assembly in New York.

Her promotion means that two of the four great offices of state are now held by women after Priti Patel was kept in place as Home Secretary. Rishi Sunak was also kept on as Chancellor.

The third highest-profile change saw Mr Gove, who has held a Cabinet role almost every year since David Cameron’s first Cabinet in 2010, given a new department to head up. In the past two years, he has been at the centre of Mr Johnson’s government as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster in the Cabinet Office.

He has taken on a problem-solving role for the Prime Minister, heading up Covid Cabinet committees, unpacking the issue of Covid passports, spearheading the fight against Scottish independence and, at one time, handling talks on Brexit’s impact in Northern Ireland.

Mr Gove has become Communities Secretary, meaning he will take charge of the major shake-up of the planning system that has triggered fierce Tory backbench resistance.

Downing Street sources pointed out Mr Gove’s constituency was Surrey Heath, the type of southern rural constituency whose Tory MPs are voicing criticism about the plans, and vowed he would listen to concerns.

Mr Gove will also continue his role heading up policy of the Union, not least countering SNP calls for a second Scottish independence referendum, and driving forward the Prime Minister’s “levelling up” agenda, more detail on which is expected this autumn.

However, the move also means Mr Gove will be one step removed from the centre of government than he has been for the past two years.

Mr Gove was also not handed one of the more prominent departments, such as the Home Office or the Foreign Office, that he had been reportedly interested in.

Mr Barclay, the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, seen as a safe pair of hands by some in Downing Street, has moved to the Cabinet Office to take Mr Gove’s previous role.

It will see him lead the influential “Covid-O” Cabinet committee meetings that shape crucial decisions on tackling the pandemic, aware from his Treasury days of the economic impacts of recent lockdowns.

Conservative Party conference looms

The reshuffle’s timing reflected the upcoming Conservative Party annual conference at the end of the month, allowing Mr Johnson to present his new team to party members.

Mr Zahawi has been the public face of the Covid vaccine rollout, which helped propel the Tories into a consistent opinion poll lead over Labour this year, and has been rewarded with the appointment as Education Secretary.

Mr Williamson’s removal had been widely expected after the backlash to the botched exam reforms in the summer of 2020 and deep disapproval of his tenure among Tory members in polls.

Mr Dowden, who had been the Culture Secretary, was made co-chairman of the Conservatives, replacing Ms Milling. He was once Mr Cameron’s deputy chief of staff and is expected to play a leading role in political strategy.

Nadine Dorries replaced Mr Dowden as Culture Secretary.

The apparent lack of pushback from those demoted, with the exception of Mr Raab, reflects Mr Johnson’s political strength.

More than two years into his premiership, the Tories remain consistently ahead of Labour in the polls, he has a Commons majority of more than 80 and there remains more than two years until the next election.

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