Newly-appointed British Prime Minister Liz Truss appointed Therese Coffey as the Britain’s first female deputy prime minister.
Coffey holds the portfolio of the health ministry as the state-funded National Health Service struggles with soaring demand and declining resources in the wake of Covid-19. Coffey is considered a close ally of Liz Truss.
Liz also appointed Kwasi Kwarteng her Treasury chief on Tuesday, a key role for a Cabinet facing the challenge of tackling the energy crisis triggered by Russia’s attack on Ukraine.
Energy crisis in UK threatens to push energy bills to unaffordable levels, making vulnerable the nation’s poorest people in the upcoming winter.
Kwarteng is the first Black holder of the job, formally titled Chancellor of the Exchequer.
Important to note is that for the first time, none of the UK’s “great offices of state” – prime minister, chancellor, foreign secretary and home secretary – is held by a white man.
James Cleverly, whose mother is from Sierra Leone, is foreign secretary and Suella Braverman, who has Indian heritage, has been named home secretary, responsible for immigration and law and order.
