New PM Liz Truss Gifts Loyalists, Allies Top Cabinet Jobs On First Day

• Pledges urgent moves to end energy crisis
• Plans to freeze bills at about £2,500 a year coming soon

New British Prime Minister, Liz Truss has assured that the United Kingdom (UK) will “ride out the storm” of the worst cost of living crisis in a generation after launching her premiership with a brutal cabinet clear-out.

In her first address as Prime Minister in Downing Street, Truss pledged to be “hands-on” in urgently tackling the energy crisis with plans to freeze bills expected within days, as her survival in No 10 depends on them.

Though she is expected to announce plans to freeze energy bills at about £2,500 a year until 2024 in the first major act of her premiership, the move is unlikely to claw back the cost through customers’ future bills, leaving the taxpayer to pick it up instead.

As expected, moments after taking over the reins of government, Truss was putting the finishing touches to her cabinet which saw close ally Kwasi Kwarteng appointed Chancellor; Suella Braverman, who stood against her in the leadership contest, taking over from Priti Patel at the Home Office and James Cleverly promoted to Foreign Secretary.

Her closest political ally, Thérèse Coffey, takes over from Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab after he described Truss’s tax plans as an “electoral suicide note”. She also takes on the role of Health Secretary.

These appointments mean that for the first time in history, none of the great offices of state is held by white men. However, Tory MPs and Green campaigners were alarmed by the new Business Secretary Jacob Rees-Mogg, who has decried “climate alarmism”, being handed direct responsibility for energy and climate change, after she struggled to find a dedicated minister to fill the role. Alok Sharma has been reappointed chair of Cop26, the UN climate change conference.

Truss rejected calls to appoint a unity cabinet to bring the party together after the bruising leadership contest by sacking all the major cabinet-level supporters of her leadership rival Rishi Sunak, including Dominic Raab, Grant Shapps, Steve Barclay and George Eustice, while the former Chancellor himself ruled out of taking a role.

Instead, she appointed loyalists including Ben Wallace, staying on as Defence Secretary, Wendy Morton as the Tories’ first woman Chief Whip, and Brandon Lewis, who infamously admitted the government would be willing to break the law in a “specific and limited” way, as Justice Secretary.

Penny Mordaunt, who Truss beat to make the final two in the leadership contest, was rewarded with the Leader of the Commons, while Johnson Stalwart Kit Malthouse will become Education Secretary. Nadine Dorries quit as Culture Secretary and is expected to go to the Lords, prompting a by-election, with Michelle Donelan taking over her job.

Jake Berry, Chair of the Northern Research Group, was appointed Tory party Chair in a move to shore up support in “red wall” areas, while Simon Clarke is the new Levelling up Secretary.

Anne Marie Trevelyan was appointed Transport Secretary, with the former leadership candidate, Kemi Badenoch to trade, Chloe Smith the new work and Pensions Secretary and Ranil Jayawardena becoming the Environment Secretary.

Truss now faces the difficult task of winning over disenchanted Tory MPs, who she will rely on to get her energy package through the Commons, inheriting a deeply divided party lagging behind Labour in the polls, ahead of a reshuffle of the junior ministerial ranks on Wednesday.

After narrowly avoiding heavy downpours outside Downing Street, Truss told assembled Tory MPs, aides and the world’s media: “We shouldn’t be daunted by the challenges we face, as strong as the storm may be. I know that the British people are stronger.

“Our country was built by people who can get things done. We have huge reserves of talent, of energy, of determination. I am confident that together we can ride out the storm.”

The £400 universal handout to be given to households this autumn is expected to be factored in, so the energy price cap would effectively be maintained at about the current £1,971 rate.

Conservative sources confirmed that wholesale gas prices could be capped, meaning the new prime minister’s plan would also help thousands of small businesses teetering on the brink of collapse.

However, the scheme, which could cost as much as £100bn, is expected to be paid for through extra borrowing, after Kwarteng made the case for some “fiscal loosening” given the scale of the economic crisis. Tory aides suggested plans were not yet “nailed on”. – With The Guardian reports