Cabinet reshuffle: Keir Starmer urges Boris Johnson not to abolish aid department

Prime minister planning to ‘blood’ new generation of female Tory talent

Andrew Woodcock
Political Editor
Thursday 13 February 2020 08:50 GMT
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Boris Johnson leaves No 10 on Tuesday
Boris Johnson leaves No 10 on Tuesday

Labour leadership frontrunner Sir Keir Starmer has called on Boris Johnson to preserve the Department for International Development (DfID) as an independent ministry with its own cabinet-level secretary of state in the reshuffle on Thursday which is expected to set the tone for his next four years in office.

Mr Johnson is expected to use the ministerial shake-up to promote female talent, with no cut in the number of women in full cabinet roles and promotion for a number of up-and-coming female stars, including Anne-Marie Trevelyan and Gillian Keegan.

The prime minister is understood to want to “blood” a new generation of MPs from the 2017 and 2019 intakes in junior roles in order to have a wider pool of talent to draw on in future reshuffles.

But the 50/50 gender split he is thought to be aiming for in the lowest ministerial rank of parliamentary under-secretary of state is unchanged from the current line up, which has 17 men and 17 women occupying the role.

Westminster speculation has focused on Geoffrey Cox, the attorney general, Theresa Villiers, the environment secretary, Andrea Leadsom, the business secretary, and Ben Wallace, the defence secretary, as possible candidates for the sack in a post-Brexit purge.

But expectations have recently dampened of a ministerial cull to produce a dramatically reduced-size cabinet and the merger of departments like the Foreign Office with DfID or business with international trade, as previously advocated by the PM’s senior adviser Dominic Cummings. One insider said the reshuffle would be “moderate” in scale.

Nonetheless, Sir Keir said Labour must guard against Tory efforts to “hollow out” the international development department and absorb its budgets and poverty-reduction ethos within the Foreign Office, whose priority is promoting UK interests overseas.

Writing in The Independent, Sir Keir said: “Our development work should always be about spreading power, wealth and opportunity to the world’s least advantaged. It cannot be about boosting British power or finding new markets for British firms.

“Merging the two departments would not only send entirely the wrong message about the UK’s commitment to helping those who need it most, it would also affect the quality and reach of our development programmes.

“That’s why I’m urging the prime minister not to abolish the DfID in today’s reshuffle and ensure that a dedicated secretary of state remains in the cabinet.”

Sir Keir said that even if DfID survives Thursday’s Whitehall shake-up, Labour will have to be prepared to continue to defend the department and the UK’s commitment to spend 0.7 per cent of GDP on aid from an expected “onslaught” from Mr Johnson, who has previously said that development spending should be used to promote political and commercial objectives.

“For many in the cabinet, international development is at best an afterthought,” said the Labour leadership candidate. “At worst, it is a budget to be cut and a department to be abolished.

“UK aid spending saves lives every single day. It tackles extreme poverty, protects human rights and helps build a fairer world. That’s why it is so important that DfID retains its departmental independence and that we hold the government to their commitment to honour the 0.7 per cent target.

Sir Keir Starmer

Fears for DfID’s future have been heightened by expectations that its current secretary of state Alok Sharma is set to be promoted to a more senior cabinet rank in the reshuffle after just seven months at its helm.

Also expected to rise through the ranks are Oliver Dowden, currently paymaster general but tipped for the culture secretary role being vacated by Nicky Morgan, who made clear she would only be a short-lived placeholder when she was elevated to the House of Lords after the election.

Armed forces minister Ms Trevelyan is expected to be promoted to cabinet level, while Ms Keegan is set to move from her current ministerial aide post as parliamentary private secretary (PPS) to Matt Hancock to reach full ministerial rank.

Former Brexit secretary Stephen Barclay is expected to be restored to the cabinet after his department was abolished following the UK’s departure from the EU on 31 January. And former Brexit minister Suella Braverman is set to return to government after quitting in protest at Theresa May’s withdrawal plan in 2018.

Prisons minister and barrister Lucy Frazer has been widely tipped to replace Mr Cox as attorney general, the government’s chief law officer.

Anne-Marie Trevelyan is expected to be promoted (UK Parliament)

And Mr Cox himself appeared to be touting for the post of chair of the planned commission on constitutional reform, with a speech on Wednesday in which he floated radical ideas around a bill of rights and possible parliamentary confirmation hearings for top judges.

Also due for appointment is the new president of the COP26 United Nations climate change summit taking place in Glasgow in November, with Michael Gove and Zac Goldsmith tipped as possible replacements for Claire O’Neill following her controversial dismissal.

By the summer, Mr Johnson intends for at least 60 per cent of PPS roles to be held by female MPs, with the recruitment of newer MPs to these positions taking place in the coming weeks. Currently the figure is only 18 per cent.

But former minister Justine Greening said the prime minister must promote diversity not only in gender but also proportions of state and private school educated ministers if he wants to show he is serious about his “levelling up” agenda.

“Diversity matters particularly, not only because Johnson’s government should be reflective of modern Britain, but because diversity makes for better decision making,” Ms Greening told The Independent. “The government has regulated for workplace equality, such as by mandating more transparency on gender pay gaps – now it must lead by example, both in junior but also senior ministerial and cabinet ranks.”

A No 10 source said: “The prime minister wants this reshuffle to set the foundations for government now and in the future. He wants to promote a generation of talent that will be promoted further in the coming years.

“He will reward those MPs who have worked hard to deliver on this government’s priorities to level up the whole country and deliver the change people voted for last year.”

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