New British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak began restructuring his administration Tuesday, keeping in place notable people from former Prime Minister Liz Truss’s Cabinet, including finance chief Jeremy Hunt.
Sunak’s decision to reappoint Hunt as the chancellor of the exchequer comes a week before Hunt is expected to present a crucial fiscal statement as the United Kingdom faces multiple economic and energy crises.
BRITAIN’S NEW PRIME MINISTER WILL RAISE HOPES IN BEIJING AND CONCERNS IN WASHINGTON
“Right now, our country is facing a profound economic crisis. The aftermath of COVID still lingers. Putin’s war in Ukraine has destabilized energy markets and supply chains the world over. I will place economic stability and confidence at the heart of this government’s agenda,” the prime minister said.
Dominic Raab was appointed deputy prime minister and justice secretary, according to Downing Street. James Cleverly and Ben Wallace were reappointed as foreign secretary and defense secretary, respectively.
The administration shift comes a day after Sunak was declared Britain’s next prime minister following Truss’s resignation last week. Sunak was the only candidate to reach enough signatures to enter a short prime minister election Monday.
“I want to pay tribute to my predecessor Liz Truss. She was not wrong to want to improve growth in this country. It is a noble aim. And I admired her restlessness to create change. But some mistakes were made — not born of ill will or bad intentions. Quite the opposite, in fact. But mistakes, nonetheless. And I have been elected as leader of my party and your prime minister, in part to fix them, and that work begins immediately,” he said.
The economic troubles in the U.K. stemmed from the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Sunak, which forced the world into a global lockdown and the closure of nonessential businesses. Sunak, who was the chancellor of the exchequer at the start of the pandemic, said he would devote his time to addressing the current economic climate.
“You saw me, during COVID, doing everything I could to protect people and businesses with schemes like furlough,” Sunak said. “There are always limits, more so now than ever, but I promise you this — I’ll bring that same compassion to the challenges we face today. The government I lead will not leave the next generation — your children and grandchildren — with a debt to settle that we were too weak to pay ourselves.”
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Sunak became the first prime minister under King Charles III’s reign on Tuesday and is the country’s first Hindu prime minister.
