UK: Rishi Sunak reshuffles his cabinet

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British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak cannot get the scandals in his party under control

Photo: James Manning / dpa

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak reshuffles his cabinet.

According to unanimous reports, former Business Secretary Grant Shapps will become Minister for Energy Security, while Trade Secretary Kemi Badenoch will be given additional economic powers.

With the division of two existing departments, Sunak is creating a total of new management positions.

The Ministry of Economy and Energy will be split up and – as promised by Sunak last summer – a separate Ministry of Energy will be created.

The rest of the previous department will be merged with the Department of Commerce.

A separate Digital Ministry is to be separated from the Ministry of Culture, Media, Sport and Digital, which will be headed by former Minister of Culture Michelle Donelan.

Ex-Building Minister Lucy Frazer will be the new Sports and Culture Minister.

The new Energy Minister Shapps said on Twitter that he was looking forward to the new task.

He will focus on securing long-term energy supply, cutting costs and thereby halving inflation.

Greg Hands is set to succeed Nahim Zahawi

The priority of the government reshuffle was to appoint a new general secretary for Sunak's Conservative Party, as reported by the BBC, among others.

The government has confirmed that former Secretary of Commerce Greg Hands will take over.

He succeeds Nadhim Zahawi, who was fired a week ago for his involvement in a tax affair.

Deputy Prime Minister and Attorney General Dominic Raab, who is under investigation into bullying allegations, will remain in office for the time being, reports said.

Raab denies the allegations.

A good 100 days after taking office, Sunak is already under considerable pressure.

It is true that he calmed the financial markets, which had been thrown into chaos by the economic policies of his predecessor Liz Truss.

However, he cannot get the scandals in his party under control.

The cracks in his Conservative Party are becoming more and more apparent, and the prime minister's workload is mounting.

Truss is already the second ex-prime minister to drive the internal power struggle – Boris Johnson has been involved again for weeks.

Large donations and trips abroad to Kyiv and Washington give the impression that Johnson is aiming for a managerial position again.

Or even his old post at Downing Street.

Tories plummeted in polls

The new general secretary, Hands, is now supposed to help position the party better for the elections that are likely to take place next year.

Sunak's Tories are currently more than 20 percentage points behind opposition leader Keir Starmer's Labor Party in polls.

muk/fek/Reuters/dpa