Rishi Sunak’s cabinet: Who is in the prime minister’s top team?

Rishi Sunak is the UK's first British Asian prime minister.

He won the leadership contest which followed the resignation of Liz Truss, receiving nominations from more than half of his party's MPs.

He was chancellor during the coronavirus pandemic, and introduced the furlough scheme, spending huge amounts to keep the economy afloat.

His reputation was dented by a controversy over his wife's tax affairs and a fine for breaching lockdown rules.

In July 2022, he was one of the first to quit Boris Johnson's cabinet, paving the way for the stream of resignations.

He became an MP in 2015 - for the North Yorkshire constituency of Richmond.

Dominic Raab has been appointed justice secretary and deputy prime minister by Rishi Sunak.

He previously served as justice secretary under Boris Johnson - but lost his role when Liz Truss became prime minister.

Prior to that, he served as foreign secretary and faced criticism and calls for his resignation over his handling of the Afghanistan crisis.

During the pandemic he was asked to deputise for Prime Minister Boris Johnson, while he was in intensive care with Covid and went on to be appointed his deputy PM.

A staunch Brexiteer, Mr Raab also served as a justice minister in 2015, but was sacked by Theresa May when she became prime minister the following year. He made a return as Brexit secretary in July 2018 after the resignation of David Davis, but quit only months later in opposition to Mrs May’s Brexit deal.

The karate black-belt started his career as an international lawyer, before joining the Foreign Office as a diplomat.

Jeremy Hunt will remain in his post as chancellor, after having been in the role for just over a week.

He was appointed chancellor by former prime minister Liz Truss earlier in October after turmoil in the financial markets following the mini-budget, which led to the sacking of her first choice Kwasi Kwarteng.

His initial appointment - and subsequent move to scrap almost all the tax cuts his predecessor had promised - calmed financial markets. The need to encourage economic stability was a key reason to keep him in post.

He was first elected to parliament in 2005 and joined the cabinet under PM David Cameron as secretary of state for culture, Olympics, media and sport in the run-up to the 2012 London Olympics.

He went on to become health secretary, where he faced criticism from junior doctors over plans to introduce new contracts, but also secured a funding increase for the NHS. Mr Hunt became foreign secretary in 2018.

The MP for South West Surrey has twice stood unsuccessfully for the party leadership, losing to Boris Johnson in 2019.

Suella Braverman has returned as home secretary - less than a week after she resigned from the role over a data breach, leaving with a brutal attack on Liz Truss’s government’s direction on migration.

In the job, she’ll be tasked with things like the plan to send some asylum seekers to Rwanda.

Her return to the cabinet comes less than a week after she resigned over a data breach, leaving with a brutal attack on the government’s direction on migration.

She’s a barrister who was previously the attorney general and ran to be Tory leader herself in the contest this summer.

Her parents emigrated to the UK in the 1960s from Kenya and Mauritius, and both spent time in local politics – with her mother being a councillor for 16 years.

She has two children, studied law at Cambridge, and loves sushi.

Ms Braverman was the first cabinet minister to take maternity leave – after the law was changed so that cabinet ministers could receive paid maternity leave, having previously been expected to resign their posts.

James Cleverly has been reappointed foreign secretary by Rishi Sunak.

He was originally appointed foreign secretary under Liz Truss, taking over her former department.

Mr Cleverly was a foreign minister previously, for the Middle East and North Africa, and later for Europe and North America.

He served in the Territorial Army and went to Sandhurst and, outside of work, enjoys painting model soldiers and hanging out with his border terriers.

Elected as MP for Braintree in Essex in 2015, the Brexit supporter held a number a junior ministerial roles under Theresa May before moving to the Foreign Office.

Ben Wallace has been reappointed as defence secretary, a post he has held since July 2019, where he’s been leading the response to the war in Ukraine.

He's popular with Tory members - and was once considered a favourite to replace Boris Johnson - but chose not to stand in either recent leadership contest.

Mr Wallace is pretty widely respected across the parliamentary party with many colleagues seeing him as a safe pair of hands.

During his eight-year spell in the Army, he served in Germany, Cyprus, Belize and Northern Ireland - where he helped thwart an IRA bomb attack.

Simon Hart has been appointed chief whip.

He had previously served as Welsh secretary under Boris Johnson between 2019 and 2022 and was also a junior minister at the Cabinet Office.

He was among those to resign from the cabinet in July as Mr Johnson’s premiership collapsed.

Elected as MP for Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire in 2010, he has a background in rural affairs having been chief executive of the Countryside Alliance.

Prior to becoming an MP, he also worked as a chartered surveyor and served with the Territorial Army for five years.

Nadhim Zahawi has been appointed minister without portfolio and Conservative Party chairman by Rishi Sunak.

A fast riser in the party, he gained support and public recognition in his role as vaccines minister during the pandemic.

Mr Zahawi served briefly as chancellor of the exchequer after Rishi Sunak resigned - and pretty swiftly afterwards said Boris Johnson should resign.

He was later appointed by Liz Truss as chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster.

Mr Zahawi was also education secretary during the later half of the Covid pandemic and had the difficult task of ensuring a generation of children caught up after having missed months of school.

He's a former child refugee who fled Iraq with his parents in the 1970s and co-founded the market research firm YouGov. He is now believed to be one of the richest politicians in the Commons.

Oliver Dowden has been appointed Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster by Rishi Sunak.

The role means he'll be responsible for running the Cabinet Office, the department that supports the prime minister and basically helps departments work together better on issues that involve more than one.

Mr Dowden's most recent role was as Conservative Party chairman. However he quit in June, after the Tories suffered two significant by-election defeats.

As Culture Secretary under Boris Johnson, Mr Dowden waded into the “culture wars”, arguing that museums should “retain and explain” controversial statues rather than removing them.

Before being elected as MP for Hertsmere in 2015, he worked in Downing Street advising David Cameron and was made his deputy chief of staff. He was later awarded a CBE for his services.

He is married with two children.

Grant Shapps has been appointed business secretary by Rishi Sunak.

The former transport secretary was fired by Liz Truss because he supported her rival Rishi Sunak in the summer leadership contest.

However, he made a miraculous comeback when he was brought back as home secretary as her government began to fall apart – with his appointment seen as an olive branch to the PM’s opponents and an attempt to encourage unity.

Mr Shapps is known for his skills in monitoring political rebellions, using spreadsheets to record his colleagues’ views – and has played a role in the downfall in a number of PMs.

He’s also faced his own scandals and resigned as international development minister following allegations he ignored warnings about bullying when he was party co-chairman.

He was born in Watford and educated at a local grammar school, before going on to Manchester Polytechnic to study business and finance. He later set up his own successful printing business, before being elected MP for Welwyn Hatfield in Hertfordshire in 2005.