This article is more than 4 years old

This article is more than 4 years old

Philip Hammond has been appointed chancellor of the exchequer and Boris Johnson foreign secretary as Theresa May allocated the top posts in her cabinet on her first evening as prime minister.

Hammond, who was foreign secretary, was the first to be appointed and replaces George Osborne, who was fired from the government, Downing Street announced.



The second major appointment – and a much more unexpected one – was Johnson as foreign secretary.



The former mayor of London played a major role in the leave camp during the EU referendum, and was the initial favourite to succeed Cameron, only for his leadership bid to end abruptly when his key Brexit ally, Michael Gove, stood against him.

Another significant appointment was Amber Rudd, the former energy secretary, promoted to home secretary in place of May herself, having only entered parliament in 2010.

Johnson said nothing to reporters as he left Downing Street to head for the Foreign Office. After Hammond left, he made the short trip to the Treasury, to meet his new team. Downing Street said more jobs would be announced soon.

Having left Downing Street via a back entrance, Osborne later sent a tweet saying:

George Osborne (@George_Osborne) It's been a privilege to be Chancellor these last 6 yrs. Others will judge - I hope I've left the economy in a better state than I found it.

In another tweet he paid tribute to his old boss:

George Osborne (@George_Osborne) A sad, moving day to see my great friend @David_Cameron leave Downing St. He can be very proud of the job he's done and service he's given

Downing Street announced that Michael Fallon would remain in his job as defence secretary.

Two of May’s new ministers were MPs who have spent some years in the wilderness. David Davis was made minister for Brexit – officially known as secretary of state for exiting the European Union – six years after he resigned as shadow home secretary to re-fight his parliamentary seat in a protest over civil liberties.

Liam Fox, who left the post of defence secretary in 2011 following revelations that his close friend the lobbyist Adam Werritty had travelled with him on official business, was made secretary of a new ministry for international trade.





Hammond is seen as the ultimate safe pair of hands in government: a hard-working, technocratic colleague who will happily and conscientiously take good care of tricky ministries.

But the MP for Runnymede and Weybridge since 1997 has also shown a slightly less loyal side, reportedly annoying David Cameron with warnings about military cuts as defence minister and with criticisms of gay marriage legislation.



Hammond, now 60, has worked his way up with efficient handling of some complex ministerial briefs. In opposition he shadowed as pensions secretary and chief secretary to the Treasury before beginning in government at the slightly more junior role of transport minister as the coalition deal gave the Lib Dems his old post.

Immediately in government he showed his populist side, declaring Labour’s mythical “war on motorists” to be over and proposing to increase the motorway speed limit to 80mph, until the extra death toll this would have caused prompted the plan to be scrapped.

As defence minister in 2013 Hammond attracted criticism by talking about “a real sense of anger among many people who are married” over the gay marriage law. Hammond was later alleged to have likened gay marriage to incest – something he denied.

Rudd rose rapidly under the patronage of Osborne in the last parliament, starting off as his parliamentary aide and ending up in the cabinet.

The 52-year-old is one of the few senior Tory MPs to have won a marginal seat from Labour, taking Hastings and Rye in 2010. After just two years on the backbenches she was promoted by the chancellor, before entering the whips’ office and then heading to the Department of Energy and Climate Change.

Her appointment as energy secretary in 2015 was greeted with optimism by green groups, as she is committed to tackling climate change, unlike many of her colleagues on the right of the party.

Rudd struggled to defend the government’s tax credit cuts when confronted by an angry member of the public on the BBC’s Question Time last year.

However, she is regarded by colleagues as a solid media performer, and she was unafraid to take on Johnson in the EU referendum debate.