It is the big loser of a reshuffle aimed at closing ranks in view of the post-pandemic: British Prime Minister Boris Johnson thanked his foreign minister Dominic Raab on Wednesday, criticized for his management of the Afghan crisis.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, 47, is replaced by Liz Truss, 46, a figure known for his popularity with the conservative base and until then in charge of foreign trade. She takes on a strategic position, the second woman to hold this position, as the United Kingdom seeks to strengthen its place on the international scene after Brexit.
Raab demoted to justice
Dominic Raab had been criticized for his inaction in the face of the Taliban coming to power, staying on vacation in Crete as Kabul fell in August. He then seemed to blame the army for certain mistakes made during the evacuations, carried out in an apparent lack of preparation that angered the conservative ranks.
Consolation prize: he becomes Minister of Justice with the title of Deputy Prime Minister, a position he held de facto until then, leading the government in the spring of 2020 when Boris Johnson, sick with Covid-19, had been hospitalized.
Liz Truss will be replaced by Anne-Marie Trevelyan, formerly in International Development, whose ministry had been included in Foreign Affairs.
After leaving Afghanistan in pain and a year and a half of a pandemic, but also at a time when Brexit is causing a mess in supplies for the United Kingdom, Boris Johnson is seeking to breathe new life into his action.
Downing Street has touted the reshuffle as a way to “build a strong, united team to build back better after the pandemic”, with the “goal of uniting and leveling up the whole country,” campaign pledge to the disadvantaged regions of northern England delighted to Labor in 2019.
Beyond the head of diplomacy, several heavyweights have been dismissed, including Education Minister Gavin Williamson, whose departure was little doubt after multiple blunders and the fiasco of post-containment exams.
The darling of the conservative press, the young and popular Minister of Finance Rishi Sunak, 41, has on the other hand been confirmed, as have those of Defense Ben Wallace and Home Affairs Priti Patel, yet given the hot seat given his inability to reduce the arrivals of illegal migrants through the Channel.
The game of musical chairs is reflected in the promotion of the current Secretary of State in charge of vaccination Nadhim Zahawi, appointed to Education after the success of the British immunization campaign against the Covid-19. Nadine Dorries accesses Culture, a sensitive position at a time when the government wants to reform the BBC and privatize the Channel 4 channel.
Bad poll
The moment is pivotal for the 57-year-old head of government, who arrived at 10 Downing Street in the summer of 2019 and largely won the legislative elections of December 2019 with the promise to achieve Brexit, voted in 2016 but then at an impasse.
A recent poll by the YouGov institute showed a drop in popularity of the Conservatives (to 33%), overtaken by the Labor Party (35%) for the first time since the start of the year.
The government pays in particular for the announcement of an increase in social security contributions, contradicting its electoral promises, intended to bail out the public health system and reform the dependency sector.
On the health front, the government is facing a delicate situation after lifting most of the anti-Covid restrictions in July.
Contaminations remain at a high level (around 30,000 per day), although contained by vaccination. And the start of the school year and the arrival of winter viruses such as the flu make hospitals fear the worst, at the risk of significantly worsening one of the worst results in Europe (more than 134,000 deaths).
The government’s plans unveiled on Tuesday to prepare for this winter are essentially based on a vaccination booster campaign, with use of barrier gestures such as indoor masks, teleworking or the vaccination passport only as “plan B”.
Economically, if growth picks up again, Brexit accentuates the difficulties linked to the pandemic. Several sectors are under labor force, including truck drivers, disrupting supplies, and inflation jumped in August to its highest level since 2012.
Reference-feedproxy.google.com