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Esther McVey has been appointed as minister of state at the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government.
Ms McVey was named in the role late last night, which will also see her attend cabinet.
It came just after Robert Jenrick was named as secretary of state for housing, communities and local government.
Last night, the government’s housing delivery body Homes England welcomed Ms McVey as the new housing minister, saying that it looked forward to “making homes happen”.
Welcome to the new Housing Minister @EstherMcVey1. We look forward to working with you to #makehomeshappen t.co/qceY7N7719
— Homes England (@HomesEngland)Welcome to the new Housing Minister @EstherMcVey1. We look forward to working with you to #makehomeshappen https://t.co/qceY7N7719
— Homes England (@HomesEngland) July 24, 2019
Despite this, Number 10 said that the portfolios for ministers were still yet to be firmed up and could not confirm exactly what Ms McVey’s role would be.
It is also unclear what position current housing minister Kit Malthouse will take on. Mr Malthouse made a bid to become leader of the Conservative Party before dropping out of the race.
Ms McVey, 51, also bid for the leadership but came in last place.
She will now work with Mr Jenrick, who was appointed as housing secretary last night after James Brokenshire left the role.
He was one of a number of new appointments by new prime minister Boris Johnson as part of cabinet reshuffle that came within hours of him moving into Number 10.
Ms McVey, who is the MP for Tatton, has previously held one other role in the cabinet when she was work and pensions secretary between January and November 2018. In the role, she once called Universal Credit an example of “great British innovation” just a week after a National Audit Office reported said that it had not delivered value for money.
She has also held roles as the minister for employment, deputy chief whip, and parliamentary under secretary for disabled people.
Prior to being elected as MP for Tatton in 2017, she spent five years as the MP for Wirral West before losing her seat to Labour MP Margaret Greenwood.
Ms McVey had a career in TV before politics, and spent a number of years co-presenting ITV morning programme GMTV.