From Blair-era veteran to young blood: A look at UK PM Starmer's new cabinet

The United Kingdom woke up to a new government with a brand new cabinet after Labour Party leader Keir Starmer assumed the office of the Prime Minister.

After giving his victory speech, the office of the Prime Minister immediately announced the new cabinet. While Rachel Reeves became the first female chancellor of the UK, the cabinet will go down in history books for having the highest number of female ministers.

Since the country is transitioning from the Conservative Party to the Labour, it also has the highest number of state-educated ministers. Interestingly, only two ministers in Starmer’s cabinet went to private schools.

Here’s what Starmer’s new cabinet looks like.

Angela Rayner - Deputy prime minister and secretary of state for levelling up, housing and communities

The 44-year-old will take the lead on Labour’s plans to strengthen workers’ rights as the party has pledged to build 1.5 million new homes. Rayner was raised in Stockport, a town in Greater Manchester. She left school at 16 while she was pregnant and later became a care worker. She entered the parliament nine years ago after working within trade unions.

More from World

Nepal's new PM pays homage to people died during the Gen Z protest in her first national address This Week in Explainers: How recovering from Gen-Z protests is a Himalayan task for Nepal

The title of deputy prime minister is the second highest rank of minister to the crown, but it was not historically used and has not been used by all recent prime ministers.

Rachel Reeves was appointed to be Britain’s first female chancellor

The 45-year-old with a background in finance created history by becoming the first female chancellor of the UK. Reeves worked in the Bank of England and in private finance.

Yvette Cooper was appointed home secretary, overseeing domestic security and policy

55-year-old Cooper has served as Labour’s point person on home affairs at two different times. Issues around immigration will be a prominent part of her job.

Impact Shorts

More Shorts

‘The cries of this widow will echo’: In first public remarks, Erika Kirk warns Charlie’s killers they’ve ‘unleashed a fire’

Trump urges Nato to back sanctions on Russia, calls for 50–100% tariffs on China

Before even coming to office, Cooper had maintained that the Labour government would scrap the Conservative Party’s plans to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda and would instead introduce a new border security unit.

David Lammy - Foreign Secretary 

The son of Guyanese immigrants also served as a minister in the cabinets of Labour prime ministers Tony Blair and Gordon Brown. He was a shadow foreign secretary while in the opposition and has advocated for the case of “progressive realism” in its foreign policy.

Wes Streeting - Health and Social Care Secretary

Streeting was elected to the marginal seat of Ilford North with just 589 votes in 2015 and served as deputy leader of the local council beforehand.

Last year, he published a memoir about his colourful upbringing, including a bank robber grandfather. Interestingly, Streeting has been a vocal critic of Jeremy Corbyn.

Pat McFadden - Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster

The veteran politician from the Blair era will take a co-ordinating role at the centre of government and will have responsibility for making key decisions. He served as parliamentary under-secretary under Gordon Brown and later served as a minister in the business department.

Shabana Mahmood - Justice Secretary 

Mahmood created history when she became the first female Muslim in the House of Commons in 2010. Mahmood was born in her Birmingham constituency, where her father later became chairman of the local Labour Party.

She didn’t leave Labour when Tony Blair backed the invasion of Iraq, instead, she eventually replaced him as local PM. In the past, she has condemned Starmer’s stance on the Gaza crisis.

Bridget Phillipson - Education Secretary

Elected to the House in 2010, she became shadow education secretary the following year, promoting a wider rollout of school breakfast clubs aimed at “breaking the glass ceiling” for young people through education.

Ed Miliband - Energy Secretary

Miliband has been the MP for Doncaster North since 2005 and played an important role in the Labour Party. He was a special adviser to Gordon Brown and his brother David, worked for Tony Blair.

Peter Kyle - Science, Innovation and Technology Secretary

Kyle has been open about his struggle to overcome severe dyslexia and he returned to school at the age of 25. He ultimately got a PhD in community economic development. Before politics he worked as an aid worker in the Balkans, setting up an orphanage in Romania. He has also worked as a cabinet office adviser on social exclusion on his return to the UK.

Louise Haigh - Transport Secretary

Louise Haigh has been an MP in Sheffield since 2015. Both her grandfather and uncle were part of the trade union. She endorsed Corbyn in the past which she said that she regrets.

Liz Kendall - Work and Pension Secretary 

Interestingly, Kendall first serving MP to have had a child through surrogacy and has spoken about her struggle to start a family, which included two miscarriages.

She stood for the Labour Party leadership election in 2015 and lost to Corbyn. She was also an adviser to former caretaker Labour leader Harriet Harman and former health secretary Patricia Hewitt.

Jonathan Reynolds - Business Secretary

Jonathan Reynolds began his political career as an assistant to a Labour councillor in Stockport. Outside politics, he named two dogs Kennedy and Clinton and employs his wife as a senior parliamentary assistant.

John Healey - Defence Secretary 

Healy was parliamentary under-secretary of state for adult skills as soon as he was elected as the MP back in 1997. He later served as financial secretary to the treasury, minister for local government, and for housing. In the past, he voted in favour of UK involvement in the Iraq War.

Steve Reed - Environment Secretary 

Reed was elected to the parliament in 2012 for Croydon North, which was changed to Streatham and Croydon North at this election. In the past, he has held a number of shadow cabinet roles, including as shadow levelling up secretary and shadow justice secretary, before he was appointed shadow environment secretary.

Lisa Nandy - Culture, Media and Sport Secretary

Nandy ran against Starmer in the Labour leadership contest that took place after Jeremy Corbyn quit following the disastrous 2019 general election defeat. She has held a number of shadow cabinet roles, including as shadow international development secretary and shadow foreign secretary.

Hilary Benn - Northern Ireland Secretary 

Benn is the son of the late left-wing minister and campaigner Tony Benn, who served under Prime Ministers Harold Wilson and James Callaghan. His role as Northern Ireland secretary comes after a stint as chair of the Commons Brexit committee. He served as international development secretary under Blair in 2003.

Ian Murray - Scotland Secretary 

He was elected as MP for Edinburgh South in 2010 after his predecessor Nigel Griffith ruined his political career because of a sex scandal. He was among the Labour MPs who resigned from the shadow cabinet after the Brexit referendum and was an ardent critic of Jeremy Corbyn.

Jo Stevens - Wales Secretary 

Stevens served as shadow Wales secretary under both Jeremy Corbyn and Sir Keir Starmer’s tenures in the party. Before the 2024 elections, her office was vandalised after she abstained from the motion on a ceasefire in Gaza.

Lucy Powell - Leader of the House of Commons

She will be responsible for delivering Starmer’s legislative agenda in the Commons and keeping MPs updated about forthcoming business and debate in the Commons Chamber. She was shadow culture secretary before the elections.

Darren Jones - Cheif Secretary to the Treasury 

Jones is touted as one of Labour’s rising stars. Born and bred in his Bristol constituency, he worked in the NHS before training as a lawyer.

Sir Alan Campbell -  Cheif Whip

Sir Alan Campbell is a Labour stalwart who was first elected in 1997 to the parliament from the constituency of Tynemouth. He has served as a minister in the Home Office under Brown.

Richard Hermer KC - Attorney General 

The high-profile human rights lawyer assumed the role of attorney general, the chief legal adviser to the government. The role was expected to go to Emily Thornberry, who has served as shadow attorney general since 2021. It is pertinent to note that Hermer is not an MP, so he will be made a peer in the House of Lords in order to serve the role.

Baroness Smith of Basildon - Leader of the House of Lords

Basildon served as a parliamentary private secretary to Brown when he was the prime minister. From 2015 she served as leader of the Opposition in the Lords. With the current profile, she will head the government in the upper chamber and be responsible for government business.

With this, it will be interesting to see how the new cabinet will perform in the near future.

With inputs from agencies.