Rishi Sunak holds his first Cabinet meeting
(Picture: PA)Rishi Sunak chaired his first Cabinet meeting on Wednesday as he set out to “deliver from day one” on tackling the series of crises facing Britain.
On his first full day in office, the new Prime Minister sought to shift the focus of his party away from Tory leadership contest infighting and onto addressing the needs of millions of struggling families across the country.
One of his first decisions was to delay the autumn statement, which will take place on November 17, instead of Monday. He then went head-to-head against Sir Keir Starmer at Prime Minister’s Questions.
But his No10 start was hit by a storm over his reappointment of Suella Braverman as Home Secretary six days after she resigned, admitting she had broken ministerial rules by sending a document on her private email to a colleague.
During a series of media interviews on Wednesday morning, Foreign Secretary James Cleverly was forced to defend the decision which has been heavily criticised by Opposition MPs, and questioned by some Tories.
Labour wrote to Cabinet Secretary Simon Case demanding a full investigation.
As Whitehall departments are locked in talks with the Treasury over savings to partly plug a black hole in Britain’s public finances, Mr Cleverly also made clear Britain’s overseas aid would remain at 0.5 per cent of national income at least in the short-term, before “ultimately” going back to 0.7 per cent.
Mr Sunak has warned of the “profound economic crisis”, with the cost-of-living squeeze set to tighten for many households as winter hits and energy bills rise.
Other huge challenges include more than seven million people on NHS waiting lists for treatment, the Ukraine war, and the impact of the Covid pandemic on the education of millions of pupils.
As he sought to stop the blue-on-blue attacks among Tory MPs during the leadership contest and after the mayhem of Liz Truss’s 50 days in office, Mr Sunak has appointed Cabinet ministers from all factions of the party.
They include Dominic Raab returning as Deputy Prime Minister and Justice Secretary, Jeremy Hunt as Chancellor, Michael Gove as Levelling-up Secretary, Mr Cleverly, Ben Wallace as Defence Secretary, Penny Mordaunt as Commons Leader and Thérèse Coffey as Environment Secretary.
Just seven of the Cabinet are women, or about a quarter of its members.
Ahead of Cabinet, Mr Cleverly told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “I’m absolutely confident that his (Mr Sunak) experience and the experience of the team that he has built around him will mean we can deliver from day one, we can be focused on the British people and that is what the country needs.”
But he faced questions over the reappointment of Ms Braverman. He tried to justify it on the grounds that she had apologised for breaking ministerial rules when she sent a document from a personal email to a colleague as she was embroiled in a row with then premier Ms Truss over immigration, which some MPs suspect was the real reason for her being forced out.
Mr Sunak has vowed to put “integrity, professionalism and accountability” every level of his Government and Mr Cleverly insisted Ms Braverman had shown this despite the rule breach.
He added: “She has apologised for that and the Prime Minister has clearly taken the apology in the manner that she wanted to put across.”
Mr Braverman, a senior figure on the Tory Right, is seen to have been a crucial backer for Mr Sunak as he and Boris Johnson were still locked in the race for the Tory leadership.
Shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper called for a full investigation into Ms Braverman over the security breach and other “possible” ones.
In her letter to Mr Case, she said: “It must include the extent of the Home Secretary’s use of private email accounts to circulate government papers and the extent to which official documents have been sent outside government, as well as any other concerns that have been raised about possible serious information and security breaches by Suella Braverman.”
Ms Braverman is a controversial figure, having told of her “dream” of seeing a picture of a plane, with migrants who had crossed the Channel seeking to claim asylum in Britain, taking off for Rwanda under the Government’s immigration plans.
She has also been accused of undermining relations with India after she said she had “reservations” about relaxing immigration controls as the Government seeks to strike a post-Brexit trade deal with New Delhi.
On overseas aid, Mr Cleverly signalled a cut of about £4 billion will not be reversed soon.
The Government’s “ultimate aim” would be to increase the aid budget back to 0.7 per cent from 0.5 per cent. But he added: “We have got to be realistic about the economic situation.” After being appointed as Britain’s 57th Prime Minister yesterday, Mr Sunak told the nation he would “put your needs above politics.”
