Could Liz Truss’s cabinet cull come back to haunt her?

Liz Truss’s new cabinet will meet this morning for the first time, hours after the new Prime Minister rattled through all her key appointments last night. Following heavy briefing and speculation in recent weeks as to who would make the cut, there were few surprises. The most senior positions were won by Kwasi Kwarteng as the new Chancellor, Therese Coffey as deputy prime minister and Health Secretary, James Cleverly as Foreign Secretary and Suella Braverman as Home Secretary.

When it came to the other candidates, there was continuity – Ben Wallace stays on as Defence Secretary and Robert Buckland, who switched his allegiance halfway through the contest from Sunak to Truss, will continue as Welsh Secretary. As for rising stars, Truss’s main leadership rivals have all won promotions. Tom Tugendhat, who eventually endorsed Truss, will attend cabinet as security minister. Penny Mordaunt is the new Leader of the House and Kemi Badenoch joins cabinet as International Trade secretary. She had been linked with the culture brief, which instead went to Truss backer Michelle Donelan.

What is the common theme running through these appointments? Loyalty. The vast majority endorsed Truss during the contest. Badenoch was one of a small number to not endorse any candidate – and the suggestion is she would have won a more senior role had she done so. As for Sunak backers, Michael Ellis was appointed Attorney General, meaning that he will also be attending cabinet. But his appointment – which I reported as likely a few weeks ago – is the exception to the rule. The vast majority of Sunak backers were culled from cabinet by Truss. Dominic Raab, Steve Barclay and Grant Shapps have all been sent to the backbenches. Team Truss saw red over Raab’s claim that her economic plans amounted to an electoral suicide note.

The narrow selection base for these appointments has already landed badly with supporters of Sunak. After Truss won by a slimmer margin than the membership polls had predicted, there was hope she could decide to reach out in order to unite the party. Instead, she has chosen to reward loyalty. It’s a move that could come back to haunt her if MPs left on the sidelines refuse to play ball and rebel on various issues. The hope for Team Truss is that the appointments in the junior ministerial ranks – due today – will show that she is willing to offer an olive branch to those who don’t naturally support her.