New UK government takes shape with fresh faces, including Euroskeptics

Brexit

Theresa May came under immediate pressure on July 14 on her first full day as Britain's new prime minister after a series of surprise appointments to her cabinet, including the gaffe-prone Boris Johnson as foreign minister.British Prime Minister Theresa May arrives at 10 Downing Street in central London on July 14, 2016 as further cabinet appointments are expected at the start of her first full day in office. (AFP PHOTO / OLI SCARFF)

British Prime Minister Theresa May filled out her Cabinet posts Thursday, assembling a government that sweeps away many of her predecessor’s supporters and places strongly anti-EU figures in key international roles.

CCTV America’s Richard Bestic reports.

After filling half a dozen of the top jobs Wednesday — including surprise choice Boris Johnson as foreign Secretary — May made a host of new appointments Thursday.

Some of Cameron’s Cabinet kept their jobs — including Defense Secretary Michael Fallon — but most ministries were shuffled, with new ministers including Justice Secretary Liz Truss and Education Secretary Justine Greening.

The list of major players in Britain’s new Conservative government:

Prime Minister — Theresa May

Chancellor of the Exchequer (Treasury) — Philip Hammond

Foreign Secretary — Boris Johnson

Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union — David Davis

Home Secretary — Amber Rudd

Justice Secretary and Lord Chancellor — Liz Truss

Defense — Michael Fallon

International Trade — Liam Fox

Education — Justine Greening

Health — Jeremy Hunt

Transport — Chris Grayling

Work and Pensions — Damian Green

Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy — Greg Clark

Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs — Andrea Leadsom

Communities and Local Government — Sajid Javid

International Development — Priti Patel

Culture, Media and Sport — Karen Bradley

Northern Ireland — James Brokenshire

Government Chief Whip — Gavin Williamson

Conservative Party Chairman — Patrick McLoughlin

Leader of the House of Lords — Natalie Evans

Andrea Leadsom, a Conservative leadership contender who quit the race after she appeared to suggest that being a mother gave her an advantage over May, was given the environment department.

May also cleared out rivals, firing stalwarts of David Cameron’s outgoing government including Culture Secretary John Whittingdale, Education Secretary Nicky Morgan and — most significantly — Justice Secretary Michael Gove, her onetime competitor for the job of Conservative leader.

Gove led the “leave” side in Britain’s EU referendum battle alongside former London Mayor Boris Johnson, then betrayed him by making a bid for Conservative leadership — a job Johnson had long sought.

May won the leadership battle and quickly sacked Gove, who is now seen as treacherous by many Conservatives. She rewarded Johnson with the plum job of foreign secretary.

He is a surprising choice to be Britain’s top diplomat. The former mayor of London is internationally famous — but for rumpled eccentricity and distinctly undiplomatic gaffes, rather than statesmanlike behavior.

In April, Johnson suggested that U.S. President Barack Obama had an “ancestral dislike” of Britain because he is part-Kenyan.

Johnson said he was “very excited” to be part of the government. Asked whom he would apologize to first, he said “the United States of America will be at the front of the queue.”

New Treasury chief Philip Hammond reassured a startled world that Johnson — whose responsibilities include oversight of the MI6 spy agency — would be a team player

“The Cabinet works collectively and we have got a range of different characters and a range of different styles and a range of different talent,” he told BBC radio. “The lead and the tone will be set by the prime minister.”

Lesser-known than Johnson but at least as important to Britain’s future is David Davis, the cumbersomely titled Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union. Davis, a veteran lawmaker who has twice run for the Conservative leadership, is one of the staunchest Euroskeptics in British politics.

He is also a formidable battler, as May knows. For years the libertarian Davis has sparred with May over the powers of Britain’s spy agencies. He is currently suing the British government in the European courts against surveillance laws May introduced as home secretary.

Davis has previously said that Britain should take a “brisk but measured” approach to exit talks with the EU. He has said that Article 50 of the EU constitution — the formal trigger for two years of negotiations — should be invoked by the start of 2017.

Other EU leaders are already pressuring Britain to open formal talks — and warning that the U.K. cannot have access to the single European market without accepting free movement of EU citizens, a sticking point for many pro-Brexit Britons.

The foreign policy spokesman for German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s party in Parliament said Thursday that many British suggestions on the country’s future relationship with the European Union are “unworkable.”

Juergen Hardt said that “free access to the common market means, among other things, accepting other fundamental freedoms such as the freedom of movement.”

New British Treasury chief Hammond tried to sound a reassuring note Thursday, pledging that he would not introduce an emergency national budget — even though there are question marks hanging over the economy following the country’s decision to leave the EU.

Hammond offered calming tones to the markets and the public in a series of interviews the morning after taking office.

“The number one challenge is to stabilize the economy, send signals of confidence about the future, the plans we have for the future, to the markets, to businesses, to international investors,” Hammond told Sky News. “Britain is open for business. We are not turning our back on the world.”

The comments came before the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee voted not to cut interest rates in a bid to stimulate the economy.

In a surprise move, it kept the bank’s benchmark interest rate at the current record low of 0.5 percent, where it has stood since in March 2009. It also decided against pumping more money into the economy with a new bout of quantitative easing.

But the committee hinted it would loosen policy in August, when it will have fresh forecasts about the state of the British economy.

Hammond acknowledged that investment in Britain had been shaken since the referendum result.

“There has been a chilling effect,” he told the BBC. “We have seen an effect in markets, we have seen business investment decisions being paused because businesses now want to take stock, want to understand how we will take forward our renegotiation with the EU, what our aspirations are for the future trading relationship between Britain and the European Union.”

Story by The Associated Press.