2014 British cabinet reshuffle

British prime minister David Cameron reshuffled the Conservative members of his coalition government on 15 July 2014. The reshuffle, intended to strengthen his party's position in advance of the 2015 general election, had been long anticipated, as Cameron had maintained an unusually high level of stability amongst the senior ranks of his government, with only one prior reshuffle of significance, and many ministers having remained in place since their election in 2010. The reshuffle also featured the appointment of a new European Commissioner representing the United Kingdom, as the term of Lady Ashton was set to expire later in 2014.

Liberal Democrat ministers, led by the Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg, were unaffected.

Downing Street had long briefed that the promotion of "as many as ten" women, both into the lower ranks of government and the cabinet, would be pursued aggressively in the reshuffle. This led to much media speculation over the future of male ministers, and lowered the expectations of male backbenchers, with one reported to have said "If you're white and male, you've got no chance of promotion". This attracted attacks on Cameron from both the right and left before the reshuffle even began, with Tory peer Lord Ashcroft saying that the "impending ministerial reshuffle will be determined by optics rather than ability", and Labour's Shadow Home Secretary, Yvette Cooper, decrying the appointments as a "last-minute worry" about the female vote in the next spring's election.

Despite the preemptive criticism, Cameron promoted many of the women he had been subject to speculation prior to the reshuffle, including Liz Truss, who replaced Owen Paterson as Environment Secretary and became the youngest female cabinet minister in history. Cameron also promoted Nicky Morgan to the full cabinet as Education Secretary, while granting the incumbent employment minister Esther McVey and new Leader of the House of Lords, Tina Stowell the right to attend cabinet meetings. The reshuffle ultimately resulted in five of 17 Conservative full cabinet members being women, and a quarter of the total Conservative ministerial team.

...
Wikipedia