LONDON β Prime Minister Boris Johnson's opponents have accused him of creating a "Cabinet from hell" after he appointed a home secretary with a history of supporting the death penalty, a deputy who has called feminists "obnoxious bigots," and multiple ministers who voted against legislation for same-sex marriage. Johnson, who became prime minister on Wednesday, conducted the most brutal cabinet purge in modern UK political history , as ministers who backed his rival Jeremy Hunt were thrown out of Cabinet.
He shocked Westminster by bringing in Dominic Cummings, the controversial campaign director who ran the Vote Leave campaign, while dominating his top team with prominent Brexit campaigners. Pledging to deliver Britain's exit from the European Union by October 31, with "no ifs or buts," Johnson fired 17 Cabinet ministers and gave many top jobs to members of Parliament who had been involved in the Vote Leave team, handing Michael Gove the job of no-deal preparations as chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster.
Priti Patel, the prominent Brexiteer who replaces Sajid Javid as home secretary, holds numerous staunch views, including a history of supporting the death penalty. She later renounced her support for capital punishment in her role as international development secretary, a job from which she was fired in for holding a series of secret meetings with Israeli politicians during what she said was a family holiday. Patel is one of three new ministers who have previously been sacked from the Cabinet or forced to resign.
New Education Secretary Gavin Williamson was sacked earlier this year following allegations that he had leaked sensitive information from a meeting of the National Security Council to a journalist. Grant Shapps, the new transport secretary, was forced to resign as international development secretary in in disgrace in the wake of revelations that he had been aware of a bullying scandal in his role as party chairman before the death of one of its young activists.
Dominic Raab, the new foreign secretary and first secretary of state β a role that will see him deputize for Johnson β also holds highly controversial views on women. He said in that "men are getting a raw deal" and that "feminists are now amongst the most obnoxious bigots. The Scottish National Party said Johnson's new government was "shaping up to be the worst since Thatcher" and was "packed full of extreme Brexiteers and rabid right-wingers who want to drag us back to a bygone era.
