Last week, the UK Prime Minister Theresa May carried out a cabinet reshuffle, touted as being more inclusive of ethnic minorities and women. However, it appears to be that the current government has fewer women than the 2008 Prime Minister, Gordon Brown's government. The number of ministers who attended state schools has also decreased to less than half.
Theresa May dismissed several white men as she promoted ethnic minority and women MPs to create a government that “looks more like the country it serves”. The number of women in Theresa May's government increased from 29 to 38. Women now make up 32% of her government, where as it was 34% in Brown's government with the inclusion of 40 female ministers.
In Gordon Brown's government, there were seven black and ethnic minority ministers, including Sadiq Khan. Before the recent reshuffle, there were five black and ethnic minority ministers and now there are nine.
Some of the Asian ministers appointed in Theresa May's cabinet are Alok Sharma, MP for Reading West; Rehman Chishti, MP for Gillingham and Rainham. Rishi Sunak, the MP for Richmond in Yorkshire. 37-year-old Rishi Sunak will serve as the Parliamentary Undersecretary of state at the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. Educated at Oxford and Stanford, Rishi Sunak has been touted by some modernisers as potentially becoming a future prime minister.
