Home Office clearout as Starmer reshuffles top team

Ministers Dame Angela Eagle and Dame Diana Johnson have followed Yvette Cooper out of the door at the Home Office as Sir Keir Starmer continues his reshuffle.

The prime minister shifted Cooper to the Foreign Office on Thursday in a major shake-up of his top team prompted by the resignation of deputy prime minister Angela Rayner.

Now he is reshuffling other key ministerial posts, as he seeks to regain the initiative after the most tumultuous week of his premiership.

Ministers of state and junior ministers are given specific areas of responsibility in government departments, while cabinet ministers are in charge of the department as a whole and take part in cabinet meetings for major decisions.

Dame Angela and Dame Diana have been moved to roles in other departments, with Sarah Jones and Alex Norris brought into the Home Office, to work with new Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood.

The moves reflects the importance the PM places on tackling illegal immigration and stopping small boat crossings.

Anna Turley has been promoted from the Whips Office to minister without portfolio in the Cabinet Office, and will attend cabinet. She will also become Labour Party chair, replacing Chancellor Rachel Reeves’s sister Ellie.

Ellie Reeves becomes Solicitor General, replacing Lucy Rigby, who is moving to the Treasury to become economic secretary, effectively third in command to Rachel Reeves.

Sir Keir has sacked farming minister Daniel Zeichner, having also moved environment secretary Steve Reed to Rayner’s old housing brief – perhaps a sign that he wants to reset the government’s shattered relationship with the farming community.

Another appointment that stands out is Jason Stockwood, vice-chairman Grimsby Town football club.

Stockwood is a local boy done very well in business, that some in the party were keen to see run as a candidate in a parliamentary seat.

He was not interested, but has been lured into the Lords and becomes a business minister.

For a government frequently criticised for lacking voices with long-standing private sector experience, the soon-to-be Lord Stockwood could prove something of an asset.

Former investment minister Poppy Gustaffson and former local government minister Jim McMahon have also left government, Downing Street confirmed.