London, June 10; Embattled British PM Theresa May Saturday began finalising her cabinet of ministers and held talks with the Democratic Unionist Party to determine the contours of the party’s support for her minority government. Many of the key cabinet posts have already been declared as unchanged from the previous government, including Philip Hammond as Chancellor of the Exchequer, Amber Rudd as home secretary, Boris Johnson as foreign secretary, David Davis as Brexit secretary and Michael Fallon as the in-charge of the ministry of defence.
May remains in 10 Downing Street with a much diminished power base after her Conservative party fell short of an overall majority in the House of Commons, the lower house of the UK Parliament, as the general election results threw up a hung Parliament yesterday.
She reportedly abandoned plans for a major reshuffle of her cabinet to keep her senior Tory party colleagues on her side. She is expected to meet with her newly-reassembled ministerial team over the weekend in an attempt to quell any rebellion within Tory ranks.
While May’s top team has been left unchanged, she will have to fill gaps in her ministerial team after nine junior ministers lost their seats in what has been characterised as a disastrous election night for the ruling party, with the shock results going against every pre-election opinion poll forecast and the Jeremy Corbyn-led Opposition Labour faring far better than predicted.
“This government will guide the country through the crucial Brexit talks that begin in just 10 days and deliver on the will of the British people by taking the United Kingdom out of the European Union,” May had said.
Several ministers lost their seats in Thursday’s election, which saw the Conservatives lose their majority in Parliament. May’s party won 318 seats, eight short of the 326 they needed for an outright majority. The main opposition Labour Party took 262.
May announced the party would try to work with Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party, an alliance that is fraught with difficulties.
The DUP whose 10 seats would allow the government to get measures through Parliament, is a socially conservative pro-British Protestant group that opposes abortion and same-sex marriage and includes both environmentalists and climate-change deniers among its senior ranks.
Ruth Davidson, the Conservative leader in Scotland, said she had asked May for assurances that there would be no attack on gay rights after a deal with the DUP.
Northern Ireland is the only part of the UK in which same-sex marriage is illegal.
“It’s an issue very close to my heart and one that I wanted categoric assurances from the prime minister on, and I received (them),” said Davidson, who is engaged to be married to her female partner.
May’s authority over her party was shattered by the election result. She called the early election with her party comfortably ahead in the polls in the hope of increasing her majority and strengthening Britain’s hand in exit talks with the European Union.
Press Trust of India