Britain's Sunak reshuffles cabinet to better suit his priorities
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[February 07, 2023]
By Elizabeth Piper, Andrew MacAskill and Alistair Smout
LONDON (Reuters) -British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak reshuffled his
cabinet on Tuesday, breaking up two departments to better suit his
pledge to spur the economy and turn around his party's fortunes before
an election expected next year.
Sunak split the department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
(BEIS) and the department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS)
to create four new portfolios, including one for science and innovation,
a personal passion.
The former finance minister and multi-millionaire, who once worked for a
hedge fund, is trying to steer the economy through a prolonged period of
double-digit inflation and stagnation, a situation worsened by the
soaring cost of energy.
He is also under pressure to try to prove his belief that Britain can
reap the benefits of its departure from the European Union by developing
new trade ties with international partners.
His Downing Street office said he had appointed current business
minister, Grant Shapps, as minister for the new energy security and net
zero department.
Trade Secretary Kemi Badenoch was given an expanded role including
business and trade.
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Former culture minister Michelle Donelan was appointed to run the
department for science, innovation and technology, while former housing
minister Lucy Frazer takes on the new role for culture, media and sport.
Greg Hands, a former trade minister and one-time party enforcer for the
Conservatives, was appointed party chair.
'SHUFFLING DECKCHAIRS'
The timing surprised some in Sunak's party.
But after he fired his party chairman over his tax affairs and with an
investigation into bullying allegations against his deputy prime
minister Dominic Raab ongoing, several lawmakers said he might be
seizing a chance to stamp his mark.
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![](../images/020723PIX/news_n97.jpg)
Britain's Prime Minister Rishi Sunak
reacts as he leavesTeesside University in Darlington, Britain,
January 30, 2023. Oli Scarff/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2023/Feb/07/images/ads/current/debbiesfloral_lda_122722.png)
Raab denies the allegations.
Sunak's appointment of Hands as party chair finally filled a
position made ever more important before the next national election
expected in 2024, after Nadhim Zahawi was sacked nine days ago over
his tax affairs.
Since entering Downing Street in October, Sunak has been under
pressure to stamp his authority not only on his government but also
over his party, which ousted two prime ministers last year over
scandal and economic chaos.
He has so far failed to reduce the commanding lead in opinion polls
held by the opposition Labour Party, which is increasingly
presenting itself as Britain's next government.
Sunak promised in January to tackle Britain's most serious problems,
from cutting inflation, to fixing the National Health Service (NHS)
and reducing illegal migration, aiming to convince his lawmakers he
can lead them into the next election.
Tim Bale, a professor of politics at Queen Mary University in
London, said even if some investors welcomed the move, he did not
believe the departmental changes would make "a blind bit of
difference to their fortunes at the next election".
"I think these changes will look a little irrelevant to people
facing the economic hardships they are facing and the problems they
are facing in the NHS," he told Reuters, likening the move to
rearranging furniture on a sinking ship.
"I am sure he will just get accused of shifting the deck chairs on
the Titanic."
(Reporting by Elizabeth Piper, Sinead Cruise and Andrew MacAskill,
writing by Elizabeth Piper and Alistair Smout; Editing by Kate
Holton and Andrew Cawthorne)
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