WHO’S WHO: CABINET RESHUFFLE
JUSTINE GREENING
TRANSPORT SECRETARY
PHILIP HAMMOND
DEFENCE SECRETARY
CHLOE SMITH
ECONOMIC SECRETARY
SAJID JAVID
GEORGE OSBORNE’S PPS
Promoted to the cabinet from the junior economic secretary role, Greening faces several challenges. She has to continue the high-speed rail argument, tackle London’s airport problems – having opposed a new Heathrow runway – and establish her place as a cabinet heavyweight.
Replacing scandal-struck Liam Fox, Hammond moves to defence from transport – a brief in which he survived rows over foreign trains and high-speed rail links. Among his many shadow roles, he excelled in the Treasury. As a result, his grasp of numbers should come in handy when dealing with the messy MoD.
Famed for winning a by-election aged just 27 in 2009, Smith is a rapid-riser with socially liberal views. A former business consultant at Deloitte, she will handle potentially controversial policy areas including taxation on North Sea oil, Britain’s contributions to the EU budget and excise duties.
Unsurprisingly for the chancellor’s parliamentary private secretary, Javid is “on message” with Osborne’s spending plans. He may indeed go further, saying he believes in “a low tax, low inflation economy.” However, he is less keen on inflation and QE – in contrast with his new boss’s letters to Mervyn King.