Keir Starmer Appoints Cabinet Following Landslide General Election Win

Sir Keir Starmer appointed Rachel Reeves the UK’s inaugural female chancellor after Labour won its historic election landslide victory, joining Angela Rayner among a record 11 women who comprise his 25-strong cabinet team. PA Media As soon as he became Britain’s first Labour Prime Minister since 2010, Sir Keir made promises of rebuilding trust in politics with an “administration of service”. Alongside an otherwise unchanged Labour frontbench lineup, David Lammy now takes his place as foreign secretary. Home Secretary is now held by Yvette Cooper, one of three former cabinet members under Gordon Brown who will take part in Sir Keir’s inaugural cabinet meeting this Saturday morning and vowing to start its “urgent work immediately. Sir Keir made these promises shortly after being appointed Prime Minister at Buckingham Palace: – My government will serve you, politics can be used as an agent of good. “Work of change begins immediately but have no doubt: together, we will rebuild Britain.” Rishi Sunak made an emotional farewell speech outside No 10, in which he apologized to unsuccessful Conservative candidates and expressed his understanding for their anger and disappointment at Labour winning 412 seats – giving it a majority of 174. The Conservatives saw their MP numbers fall to an all-time low with only 121 representatives elected – an overall net loss of 251. Meanwhile, Liberal Democrats gained 63 seats with net gains totalling 70 and SNP suffering 38 losses to stand on nine seats with one yet uncontested constituency remaining undeclared. Reform UK won five seats – led by Nigel Farage’s win in Clacton – while Green MPs increased from one to four; Plaid Cymru doubled from two to four MPs as well. Sir Keir refused to announce details of his team prior to polling day for fear of appearing complacent; yet upon becoming Prime Minister on Friday afternoon – hours after taking up office – Sir Keir made numerous appointments that revealed plans had already been in motion for some time. Sir Keir and Irish Prime Minister Simon Harris made a pledge “to reset and strengthen” Anglo-Irish relations “quickly and comprehensively”, according to an announcement by Ireland. Rachel Reeves expressed an understanding that being the first female chancellor carries with it “historic responsibilities”. While most appointments in Sir Keir’s opposition team remain unchanged, some surprise appointments were made as part of this new cabinet, such as Richard Hermer taking up attorney general role over Emily Thornberry who had held it previously. Mr Hermer, an old friend from his days working as a barrister, will receive a life peerage to allow him to sit in the House of Lords and attend cabinet.Ms Thornberry and Anneliese Dodds remain among those from Sir Keir’s shadow cabinet who do not yet have positions – Ms Thornberry is among these, along with Nick Thomas-Symonds being shadow minister without portfolio in this new government; Patrick Vallance (former Chief Scientific Adviser of government CSSA), receiving an honorary peerage to take up cabinet in this government as Science Minister James Timpson, brother of former Tory MP Edward Timpson and now prisons minister has also received a peerage. Mr Timpson currently heads the Timpson Group, which employs ex-offenders across its UK watch and shoe repair chain. According to BBC sources, neither Lord Vallance or Lord Timpson will attend cabinet. Reeves becomes the first female chancellor since 708 AD when her office first came into being. Reeves took to social media, noting her “historic responsibility”. “To all young girls and women reading this, let today serve as an inspiration that their ambitions should never be limited. Ms Reeves told her new team of Treasury officials she understood “fully the scale and difficulty of challenges they will be up against”. “This will not be easy; we face an uphill journey ahead,” she declared, and encouraged team members to “get down to work immediately”. Sir Keir was forced to make unexpected adjustments after key allies lost their seats despite winning an overwhelming 174 seat majority on Wednesday evening, disproving expectations. One major surprise saw Shadow Minister Jonathan Ashworth lose Leicester South with more than 22,000 votes due to an independent candidate named Shockat Adam campaigning against Mr Ashworth’s views regarding Gaza war…