London: British Prime Minister David Cameron on Tuesday pushed through his biggest government shake-up since coming to power in 2010, promoting women and Eurosceptics to senior roles ahead of a national election in May next year.
William Hague, Britain’s most senior diplomat for the past four years, voluntarily stood down allowing Mr Cameron to appoint Philip Hammond, the defence minister and a prominent Eurosceptic, to the influential post. In another development, Michael Gove, a Cameron ally and one of the right-wing ideologues, was sacked as education secretary.
Women will now make up six of the new 23-person Cabinet, compared with three of 22 before. Mr Hammond’s appointment stoked speculation that Mr Cameron is trying to give his part of the coalition government a more Eurosceptic flavour to counter an electoral threat from the anti-EU UKIP. Interestingly, Mr Cameron unveiled the major shake-up of his cabinet via his two official Twitter accounts.
