Alister Jack ‘honoured’ as he is reappointed Scotland Secretary as Liz Truss shapes her team

Alister Jack said he was “honoured” to be reappointed as Secretary of State for Scotland in Liz Truss’s cabinet reshuffle on Tuesday evening.

Mr Jack was previously a backer of Boris Johnson and remained in post while many of his colleagues resigned over the Chris Pincher scandal.

He remained neutral throughout the Tory leadership election, but later added he regretted Mr Johnson had been forced out of office.

Alister Jack arrives at Downing Street on Tuesday evening

The MP for Dumfries and Galloway said he would focus on “growing the economy”, adding: “Liz Truss has been clear she will deliver for people across the UK.

“I look forward to being part of her new cabinet as we tackle the challenges facing our country, not least the rising cost of living and ensuring the long term security of our energy supply.

“We are committed to supporting families and business in Scotland and to strengthening Scotland’s place as part of a vibrant and successful United Kingdom.”

Mr Jack joins colleagues such as Kwasi Kwarteng who has been appointed as Chancellor and Robert Buckland who is Mr Jack’s counterpart in the Wales Office.

KEY DEVELOPMENTS

Here are some of the records set and milestones reached by the Cabinet reshuffle:

– For the first time, there are no white males in any of the four most senior positions of the UK government: prime minister (Liz Truss), chancellor of the Exchequer (Kwasi Kwarteng), home secretary (Suella Braverman) and foreign secretary (James Cleverly).

The UK also has its first non-white environment secretary (Ranil Jayawardena) and international trade secretary (Kemi Badenoch).

– Nadhim Zahawi has become the second shortest serving chancellor of the Exchequer in modern political history.

Mr Zahawi was given the job by former prime minister Boris Johnson on July 5 and clocked up 63 days until being replaced by Kwasi Kwarteng on September 6.

This was more than double the time spent in the role by Iain Macleod, who became Conservative chancellor on June 20 1970 but died suddenly just 30 days later.

It is necessary to go back almost 200 years to find a chancellor who served a similarly short period in office, to a time in the early 1800s when the post was occasionally held on an interim basis by the Lord Chief Justice.

– Suella Braverman is only the fifth woman in history to hold the post of home secretary.

The first was Labour’s Jacqui Smith, who did the job from 2007 to 2009. The others were Theresa May (2010-16), Amber Rudd (2016-18) and Priti Patel (2019-22).

Women have held the role of home secretary for 13 of the last 15 years.

– Kit Malthouse has become the ninth education secretary in the past 12 years.

Since 2010, the post has been held by Michael Gove (2010-14), Nicky Morgan (2014-16), Justine Greening (2016-18), Damian Hinds (2018-19), Gavin Williamson (2019-21), Nadhim Zahawi (2021-22), Michelle Donelan (for two days in July 2022), James Cleverly (from July to September 2022) and now Mr Malthouse.

– The UK also has its ninth justice secretary since 2010.

The new holder of the role, Brandon Lewis, follows Ken Clarke (2010-12), Chris Grayling (2012-15), Michael Gove (2015-16), Liz Truss (2016-17), David Lidington (2017-18), David Gauke (2018-19), Robert Buckland (2019-21) and Dominic Raab (2021-22).

– Shailesh Vara has become the shortest serving Northern Ireland secretary since the post was created in 1972.

He was appointed to the role on July 7 this year and lasted 61 days before being replaced on September 6 by Chris Heaton-Harris.

The next shortest tenure was that of the Conservative politician Francis Pym, who held the job for 93 days between December 2 1973 and March 5 1974.

– Wendy Morton is the first woman to serve as Conservative chief whip.

Labour has had four female chief whips, the most recent being Dame Rosie Winterton, who held the role from 2010 to 2016.

The first female Labour chief whip, Ann Taylor, was in the post from 1998 to 2001 and was also the first ever female Government chief whip.

– Therese Coffey is only the fifth person to formally hold the role of deputy prime minister, and the first woman to do so.

Conservative politician Michael Heseltine was the first to be officially appointed to the post, holding it from 1995 to 1997.

The others have been Labour’s John Prescott (1997 to 2007), the Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg (2010 to 2015) and the Conservative Dominic Raab (2021 to 2022).