Suella Braverman’s firing kicked off a major reshuffle of Rishi Sunak’s cabinet – probably his last attempt at a substantial rearrangement before a general election. It’s not an insignificant reshuffle: the foreign secretary, James Cleverly, has replaced Braverman. And Sunak has brought back the former prime minister, David Cameron, to replace Cleverly.
Other major changes include Steve Barclay’s move from health to environment, replacing Therese Coffey. This means the Department of Health has a new secretary for the second time in 14 months. Victoria Atkins will have a challenge on her hands with the major issues facing the NHS.
Sunak’s government formed in October 2022, just over a year ago. Since then, at least half of the cabinet ministers have either been reshuffled or left the government. Sunak’s frequency of ministerial changes appears to exceed Boris Jonhson’s government, who had two major reshuffles over a period of two years. Theresa May carried out one over two years.
