Rishi Sunak 'to announce Cabinet reshuffle on Tuesday'

Expected shake-up follows sacking of Nadhim Zahawi, while Dominic Raab is tipped to stay in post

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is expected to oversee a Cabinet reshuffle on Tuesday. EPA

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is reportedly planning to announce a mini reshuffle of his Cabinet as soon as Tuesday.

Mr Sunak is expected to appoint a new Tory Party chairman after he sacked Nadhim Zahawi over his tax affairs more than a week ago.

The reshuffle is expected to be “relatively limited”, with a domino effect caused by the naming of a successor for Mr Zahawi, The Times reported, quoting a government source.

It said a Whitehall shake-up was also expected, with Mr Sunak considering breaking up the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy into separate ministries.

Such a move would follow his pledge during his campaign for the Tory leadership to reinstate a stand-­alone energy department.

The Sun reported that business and trade could be merged, and a science and digital department created, leaving culture and sport as a separate body.

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Dominic Raab is expected to survive any reshuffle this week, as Mr Sunak has indicated he would wait for the outcome of an inquiry into the Deputy Prime Minister’s conduct before taking any action.

Mr Raab, who is also Justice Secretary, is being investigated by senior lawyer Adam Tolley KC over bullying allegations, with dozens of officials thought to be involved in eight formal complaints.

Mr Raab has denied the allegations.

Cabinet ministers thought to be under consideration to succeed Mr Zahawi include Business Secretary Grant Shapps, Commons leader Penny Mordaunt and Trade Minister Greg Hands.

No 10 Downing Street declined to comment on the reshuffle claims.

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Mr Sunak’s pledge to govern with “integrity, professionalism and accountability at every level” when he entered No 10 more than a 100 days ago has been dented by the furore over Mr Zahawi’s financial affairs and the bullying claims against Mr Raab.

The Prime Minister sacked Mr Zahawi after an investigation by Laurie Magnus, the independent adviser on ministers’ interests, concluded that he had breached the ministerial code.

Mr Magnus found he had failed to be transparent about the multimillion-pound settlement with HM Revenue and Customs reached while he was chancellor, which included paying a penalty.