Rishi Sunak reshuffle: Appointments and changes of interest to small businesses

Prime minister Rishi Sunak is reshuffling his Cabinet and junior ministers. It was sparked by the firing of former home secretary Suella Braverman.

We're keeping this post updated with the appointments and sackings of relevance to small businesses.

David Cameron, the former prime minister, has returned to government as the new foreign secretary. He is now Lord Cameron. Read more details here.

Greg Hands has moved from chairman of the Conservative Party to become a minister in the Department for Business and Trade. This is the fourth time he has been a trade minister.

Greg Hands has also been appointed minister for London. He replaces Paul Scully who was fired. See below for more details.

Laura Trott, who was a 10 Downing Street political adviser when David Cameron was prime minister, has been appointed as chief secretary to the Treasury. She was previously pensions minister.

Steve Barclay has been appointed as environment, food and rural affairs secretary. He was previously health secretary. He replaces Thérèse Coffey who resigned.

George Freeman resigned as science minister. In his resignation letter, Freeman wrote:

"I deeply believe that supporting and harnessing innovation is the only way to the more productive, sustainable, prosperous and resilient economy and country we so urgently need."

Paul Scully has been fired as minister for London and minister for technology and digital economy. Scully was small business minister from February 2020 to July 2022.

In a thread of posts on X, Scully said he "got the Spanish Archer this evening from my two ministerial positions in the reshuffle". He referenced Enterprise Nation in a post saying: "I was lucky to see such energy from any number of entrepreneurs and their representatives."

Their exact ministerial portfolios have yet to be confirmed but George Freeman and Paul Scully have been replaced by Andrew Griffith and Saqib Bhatti.

Andrew Griffith was previously economic secretary to the Treasury. His other roles include being the UK’s net zero business champion. Before entering politics Griffith had various roles in business including chief financial officer and group chief operating officer at Sky, and senior non-executive director at JustEat.

Saqib Bhatti is a former accountant who is vice chairman of the Conservative Party for Business. Before becoming an MP, he was also president of the Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce and he launched the Greater Birmingham and Solihull Growth Hub.

Bim Afolami replaces Andrew Griffith as eonomic secretary to the Treasury.

Nigel Huddleston is the new financial secretary to the Treasury.