UK Cabinet selected but BOT minister still not set

Sir Alan Duncan

(CNS): Following the surprise appointment of Boris Johnson as foreign secretary by the new UK prime minister, Theresa May, three other new faces have been moved to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. Sir Alan Duncan who was the first openly gay Tory MP, has been appointed minister of state at the FCO. Tobias Ellwood and Alok Sharma have been given the two parliamentary undersecretary of state posts, one of which normally holds the British overseas territories brief, but so far there has been no confirmation from the FCO which one, or if Sir Alan will be given responsibility for the UK’s dependencies.

According to the FCO website, Ellwood, who is a former army captain, has been given responsibility for the Middle East and North Africa, Afghanistan and Pakistan, and Central Asia, as well as the counter terrorism and defence and international security.

No portfolio details have been listed as yet for Sharma, who was appointed Monday. That means he is likely to receive the remaining areas of responsibility. These include Africa, the Caribbean and the overseas territories, previously held by James Duddridge, a European Union ‘Leave’ campaigner who supported Angela Leadsom in the leadership contest and has not been given a post in May’s new government.

Sharma, who is married with two daughters, was a chartered accountant before being elected as the Conservative MP for Reading West in May 2010. He was the parliamentary private secretary to the chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, who has overall responsibility for the Cabinet Office and is also co-chairman of the Conservative Friends of India group.

However, given the UK’s new position in the world, the overseas territories may be elevated in importance, leaving Sir Alan to take up the brief.

Sir Alan (59) has been the Conservative MP for Rutland and Melton since 1992. He is a graduate of Harvard and Oxford Universities and worked in the oil business for many years. He had a long list of shadow cabinet jobs during previous Labour governments and his last government post was as minister of state for international development, which he held from 2010 to 2014.

He was the first openly gay Conservative member of Parliament, coming out in 2002, and the first on the Tory benches to enter into a same-sex civil partnership,  which, if he is given the BOT brief, could pave the way for some awkward moments, in light of the recent local opposition to offering any kind of rights to members of the LGBT community in Cayman from the opposition benches in particular.

The new FCO minister of state is not the only gay MP to be given a job in May’s Cabinet. Justine Greening, who admitted she was in same-sex relationship in the wake of  the referendum on the EU, has been appointed education secretary.