Theresa May promises ‘successful Brexit’ as she assembles a new look cabinet of top Tory talent – including a sensational return for Michael Gove
The Leave campaign boss was made Environment Secretary after emergency Cabinet reshuffle
REELING Theresa May has promoted trusted grey beards and brought back arch nemesis Michael Gove in an emergency Cabinet reshuffle to help her cling to power.
The Leave campaign boss was the biggest winner in the lame duck PM’s post-election disaster shake up.
Mr Gove was made Environment Secretary, just 11 months after Mrs May sacked him as Justice Secretary in one of her first acts in No10.
The embattled Premier also appointed her old friend from Oxford University days Damian Green to be her Number 2.
Mr Green was promoted to be First Secretary of State and Minister for the Cabinet Office – and will carry out a new role of liaising with ministers and MPs previously shut out of Mrs May’s former tight-knit regime.
After an excruciating 48 hours of silence since the general election result revealed Mrs May had thrown away the Tories’ majority, senior Cabinet ministers finally came out to back Mrs May in public yesterday.
The Defence Secretary revealed they had dictated terms to the badly weakened PM as the price of not toppling her immediately.
Sir Michael Fallon said: “We’re going to see more collective government. I and other colleagues have made that clear to her”.
Turmoil reigned throughout much of the weekend.
Asked who was really in charge and making the key decisions on Saturday and yesterday, one senior Conservative told The Sun: “F*** knows”.
But by last night, the threat to the PM had rescinded — at least for a few months – with tension also eased by the double resignations of Mrs May’s unpopular co-chiefs of staff, Nick Timothy and Fiona Hill.
But many Tories insisted her time in No10 was limited after her snap election gamble to boost her majority ended in disaster.
Gleeful George Osborne – who was also sacked by Mrs May – dubbed her “a dead woman walking”.
The former Chancellor added: “It’s just a question over how long she’ll remain on death row”.
In the reshuffle, another trusted but unflashy performer, Treasury Chief Secretary David Gauke, was promoted into the big job of Work and Pensions Secretary.
And May loyalist Commons Leader David Lidington was promoted to Justice Secretary.
Despite plans for a wide-ranging reshuffle before the election flop, Mrs May proved too weak to sack anyone from her top table yesterday – a sign of her badly wounded she is.
But there were two demotions – for ex-leadership rival Andrea Leadsom, removed from Environment to become Leader of the House of Commons.
Bungling justice boss Liz Truss was demoted to Treasury Chief Secretary after a series of major screw ups that enraged top judges.
Putting on a brave face last night, Mrs May said her limited reshuffle “reflects the wealth of talent and experience across the Conservative Party”.
But she ducked answering whether she would serve out a full five years in the job, insisting only that was the pledge she had made during the election campaign.
Mrs May would only add: “What I’m doing now is actually getting on with the immediate job.
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“And I think that’s what’s important, I think that’s what the public would expect.”
She also shook off questions about her personal wellbeing, after enduring the toughest 72 hours of her career, saying only: “There is a job to be done and I think what the public want is to ensure that the Government is getting on with that job”.
Mrs May faces a painful grilling from all Tory MPs in the Commons at 5pm today after being summoned to appear in front of the 1922 committee of all backbenchers and ministers.
One of her few confidantes insisted last night that Mrs May had decided to stay on for the good of the country rather than taking “the easy way out”.
A source close to her said: “Her immediate reaction was to stay because anything else would have been bad for the country.
“That is a key point – she would never take the easy way out for her own comfort.”
The reshuffle’s biggest winner Mr Gove revealed last night that he “genuinely didn’t expect”.
Michael Gove: MANY will see his appointment as a slap in the face but the widely respected Tory is back as Environment Secretary. He is in charge of taking fisheries policy back from the EU. Gove still blames Brussels red tape for killing off his dad’s fish merchant business.
Damian Green: THE PM’s long-time pal has been given the title of First Secretary of State as well as Minister for the Cabinet Office.
The ex-Work and Pensions Secretary craved being Chancellor but now has a critical role in keeping the Government together and co-ordinating Brexit talks.
He first met Mrs May at Oxford University in the 1970s and was seen by the PM’s former aides as the ultra-safe pair of hands.
David Gauke: DAVID Gauke is finally given the frontline job that his talents command as Work and Pensions Secretary.
He has often been uncorked at times of crisis to calm nerves and hit back at Labour.
Now he will shape pensions and benefit reform.
David Lidington: The former Speaker of the House rises up the Cabinet pecking order with a shift to Justice Secretary and also becoming Lord Chancellor.
Losers
Liz Truss: LIZ Truss suffered the biggest demotion of them all from Justice to Treasury Secretary.
She paid the price for a brutal period where years of cuts caught up with the prison service, prison guards went on strike and a furious legal profession declared war on her.
Andrea Leadsom: FINALLY she has the word “leader” in her job title, but just a year ago she was in the race to be Prime Minister.
Now she has been demoted from Environment Secretary to Leader of the House and will organise Government business in the Commons.
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In a bid to heal deep anger from her party, the PM started ringing the 33 Tory MPs who lost their seats.
Ben Howlett, ousted from his Bath seat, tweeted: “Thanks to @theresa_may for phoning me this afternoon following the #Bath election result. Our Govt must stay united in the national interest.”
Nigel Evans, 1922 committee secretary, predicted a heated atmosphere when the Prime Minister faces MPs at the meeting.
He told The Sun: “Normally you’d have a banging of desks after a General Election. Well it’ll be a banging of heads this time — similar noise but different action.”
But other grandees also started to rally round her.
Chairman of the 1922 Committee Graham Brady said: “It’s her duty to form a government as resilient as it can be in quite difficult times.”
Senior Tory MP and prominent Brexiteer Bernard Jenkin added: “There is absolutely no appetite for a leadership contest in the Conservative Party.
“If you carry on rocking the boat, you will end up with Corbyn in Downing Street.”
Mr Jenkin added: “People like Michael Heseltine and George Osborne – they should shut up and allow her to just get on with it”.