Thursday, July 14, 2016

Philip Hammond appointed as UK Chancellor of the Exchequer - Independent

Philip Hammond has been appointed as the new Chancellor of the Exchequer.
Mr Hammond previously served as Foreign Secretary and is Theresa May’s first Cabinet appointment as Prime Minister.
He replaces George Osborne, who resigned from the Government, a Downing Street spokesperson said.

Mr Hammond served in the Conservatives’ Treasury team while in opposition, where he gained a reputation as the party's "axeman" with a perchant for making public spending cuts.
In government he swung his axe at the Ministry of Defence, helping to bear down on the department's financial pressures.
He has since taken a number of other Cabinet level roles while the party has been in government.
The minister also served as Transport Secretary under David Cameron.
He is now Britain's chief finance minister, in charge of economic policy and spending.
Ms May has ruled out holding an emergency Budget in the wake of her appointment as PM.

Mr Hammond served in the Conservatives’ Treasury team while in opposition, where he gained a reputation as the party's "axeman" with a perchant for making public spending cuts.
In government he swung his axe at the Ministry of Defence, helping to bear down on the department's financial pressures.
He has since taken a number of other Cabinet level roles while the party has been in government.
The minister also served as Transport Secretary under David Cameron.
He is now Britain's chief finance minister, in charge of economic policy and spending.
Ms May has ruled out holding an emergency Budget in the wake of her appointment as PM.

She has said any changes in economic course will be made in the scheduled Autumn Statement later this year.
Ms May is unveiling her first Cabinet after being appointed Prime Minister by Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace earlier this evening.
The first four top jobs are expected to be unveiled this evening, with the rest of the front bench due to be announced over the next few days.
She has pledged to create a fairer economy and create a government that works in the interests of "ordinary people" rather than the "privileged few".

Boris Johnson appointed as UK foreign secretary - Independent

More than anything, as you might imagine, we're consumed by a sense of embarrassment.
We never really expected Johnson to bounce back from political ignominy eight years ago to become mayor of London, let alone lead us out of the European Union and now inexplicably be bought back in from the cold as foreign secretary.
He's a man John Oliver quipped has the "the look and the economic insight of Bam-Bam from The Flintstones", and he's not exactly renowned for his diplomatic candour, either.
Johnson has insulted almost as many of you over the years as Prince Philip.
As far as world leaders go, in the not-so-distant past he's accused Barack Obama of having an "ancestral dislike" of the UK because he's half-Kenyan, praised Bashir al-Assad, and written a poem in which he called Recep Tayyip Erdoğan a goat wankerer.
He almost prematurely announced a trade deal when visiting Iraqi Kurdistan, has said Africans have "watermelon smiles", rugby tackled a Japanese 10-year-old, and is fond of coming out with inglorious generalisations about women.
Theresa May herself said last week that she has every faith in Johnson as a foreign negotiator. After all, when he was mayor of London, he came back with three almost new water cannons from Germany, she joked.

We can only assume that our new PM must have her reasons. (The obvious one being that if he's off gallivanting abroad, at least we don't have to deal with him.)
The only solace to be taken from this appointment is the fact that Johnson might actually hate the job. Endless meetings and long haul flights - not to mention regular visits to Brussels - sounds a bit like punishment to us.
But: that doesn't change the fact that we are basically making him your problem as well as ours now. And for that we are truly, sincerely, sorry.
We don't really have anything else to say that will make this better. But hey, at least he's not prime minister.
Yet.