Political Updates 24th June 2019

This week’s Political Updates covers moves and changes at all levels of government. 

UK Government 

Mark Field was suspended as Minister of State for Asia and the Pacific on 21 June while an investigation takes place following an altercation between him and a protester on 20 June.

Jacqueline Perkins was appointed as Her Majesty’s Ambassador to the Republic of Belarus.

Judith Gough was appointed Her Majesty’s Ambassador to the Kingdom of Sweden.

Tamara Finkelstein was appointed as Permanent Secretary at Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, previously she held this role on an interim basis.

Amelia Fawcett was appointed as the Chair of the Board of Trustees for the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew Board.

Jana Bennett, Delroy Beverley, Laela Pakpour-Tabrizi, Jeremy Silver and Wei Yang have all been named as Trustees for the British Library Board.

Simon Gass was appointed as the Chair of the Joint Intelligence Committee, previously he held this role on an interim basis.

Thalia Baldwin is set to become the Director of the Geospatial Commission on 1 August 2019.

Alison Pritchard is set to become interim Director-General of Government Digital Service, replacing Kevin Cunnington.

Kevin Cunnington has been appointed as the first Director-General of the International Government Service.

Geraldine McGahey is set to become the new Deputy Chief Commissioner of the Equality Commission for Northern Ireland.

Neil Anderson, June Best, Theresa Donaldson, Hazel Francey, Stephen Mathews, Joe McVey, Dawn Purvis and Katy Radford will all become Commissioners of the Equality Commission for Northern Ireland.

Michael Walker has been appointed as the independent expert on the Committee on Toxicity, within the Food Standards Agency.

David William McCorkell has been appointed as Her Majesty’s Lord-Lieutenant for County Antrim.

Dame Angela McLean has been appointed at the Ministry of Defence’s Chief Scientific Adviser.

Eric Robinson has been appointed as the Chief Executive Officer of the Disclosure and Barring Service.

Very Reverend Dr David Michael Hoyle MA PhD has been appointed as the Dean of the Collegiate Church of St Peter in Westminster.

  Scottish Government

Michelle Macleod was appointed as Police Investigations and Review Commissioner (PIRC), and is set to begin this role on 17 August 2019.

Malcolm Wright appointed as Chief Executive of NHS Scotland and Director General of Health and Social Care, previously holding the role on an interim basis.

    Welsh Government

Professor Richard Parry-Jones CBE will Chair the Taskforce to support Ford workers as Ford is set to close their operation in Bridgend from Autumn 2020, the Taskforce will meet on 1 July 2019 for the first time.

House of Commons

Chris Davies was removed as the MP for Brecon and Radnorshire as a recall petition was held, a by-election will be held soon.

 National Assembly for Wales

Jack Sargeant and Michelle Brown appointed as members of the Petitions Committee, Mike Hedges is no longer a member.

Carwyn Jones and John Griffiths became members of the Culture, Welsh Language and Communications Committee and Jayne Bryant, Vikki Howells and Rhianon Passmore are no longer members.

Dawn Bowden became a member of the Equality, Local Government and Communities Committee, Carwyn Jones, Jenny Rathbone and Mohammad Asghar are no longer members.

Mohammad Asghar was appointed as member of the Economy, Infrastructure and Skills Committee, Jack Sargeant was removed as a member.

Joyce Watson was removed as a member of the External Affairs and Additional Legislation Committee.

Jack Sargeant was removed as member of the Children, Young People and Education Committee.

Neil Hamilton appointed as a member of the Climate Change, Environment and Rural Affairs Committee, John Griffiths and Dai Lloyd were removed as members.

Dawn Bowden was removed as a member of the Health, Social Care and Sport Committee.

Gareth Bennett was appointed as a member of the Public Accounts Committee.

Janet Finch-Saunders became a member of the Chairs’ Forum, replacing David J Rowlands as a member.

Conservative Party

Dominic Raab was eliminated in the second round of the Conservative Party leadership contest on 18 June 2019.

Rory Stewart was eliminated in the third round of the Conservative Party leadership contest on 19 June 2019.

Sajid Javid was eliminated from the fourth round of the Conservative Party leadership contest on 20 June 2019.

Michael Gove was eliminated from the fifth round of the Conservative Party leadership contest on 20 June, which means that Boris Johnson and Jeremy Hunt will go head-to-head to compete for the position of Prime Minister.

Luke Hall has been named as the new Vice-chair for Candidates.