Alok Sharma the MP for Reading West has become one of the Parliamentarians of Indian origin to be appointed in a key post by Prime Minister Theresa May after Monday’s Cabinet reshuffle. Sharma has been promoted as the new Employment Minister after just seven months in his previous role. In 2016, he was appointed Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office by Theresa May and in 2017, he was moved to become Housing and Planning Minister in the Department for Communities and Local Government. On the other hand Sajid Javid has been appointed as the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government in the Cabinet reshuffle on January 8th, which is likely to see Mr Javid referred to as the Housing Secretary.
May has also appointed two pro-Brexit Indian-origin MPs to ministerial positions. The Prime Minister named Goan-origin Suella Fernandes a junior Minister in the department in charge of leaving the European Union, according to a Reuters report. Fernandes is the head of the European Research Group – a faction of Conservative lawmakers who support Brexit. May has appointed Rishi Sunak, the son-in-law of Infosys founder Narayana Murthy, to a ministerial position, The Guardian has reported. He will serve as the Parliamentary Undersecretary of state at the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. Shailesh Vara has now returned to Government as Parliamentary Under Secretary in the Northern Ireland Office after a spell on the backbenches. Rehman Chishti, MP for Gillingham and Rainham has been appointed as the Vice Chairman for Communities in the Conservative Party.
Former Secretary for Communities and Local Government, the 'Housing' title has now been added to Javid’s profile. A MP from Bromsgrove, Javid was born in Rochdale, Lancashire, one of five sons of parents of Pakistani descent. His father was a bus driver. Boris Johnson continues to be the Foreign Secretary while Brandon Lewis has been appointed as the new Conservative Party Chairman. He has quit from his previous immigration role for the purpose.
Rehman Chishti, MP for Gillingham and Rainham who has been appointed as the Vice Chairman for Communities in the Conservative Party is also of Pakistani origin, and is the former Parliamentary Private Secretary to Jeremy Wright, the Attorney General for England and Wales.
Sir Patrick McLoughlin, the previous party chairman, confirmed his departure from the role in a formal exchange of letters with the Prime Minister and Theresa May has also moved to further prop up her team by appointing a number of "Vice Chairs" in the Conservatibe Headquarter to policy roles including two MPs from the 2017 intake i.e. Kemi Badenoch and Ben Bradley. It came after James Brokenshire resigned from his role as Northern Ireland Secretary because of health concerns. The Prime Minister is hoping that greater emphasis will now be placed on the national housing crisis issue.
David Lidington has become the Minister for the Cabinet Office, a change from his role as the Justice Secretary while Amber Rudd and Philip Hammond retain their old positions as the Home Secretary and Chancellor of the Exchequer respectively. David Davis has been reappointed as the Brexit Secretary. James Cleverly, the MP for Braintree, given the job as the deputy chairman of the Tory party.
While Theresa May has continued the shake-up of her ministerial team by handing jobs to several junior ministers regarded as rising stars, such as Dominic Raab, Alok Sharma, Jo Johnson and Sam Gyimah, she has been in the eye of the storm created by the much controversial walk outs. The Cabinet however still remains essentially white and male dominated, while the first woman to get a junior-level promotion is Caroline Dinenage, who was also been made a Minister of State for Health.
