The Hull and Cottingham MP said it has been ‘an honour’
Dame Diana Johnson has been moved from her role as Policing Minister in a major shake-up of the Government following the resignation of Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner. The Hull and Cottingham MP, who was appointed Minister of State for Policing and Crime Prevention in the Home Office last year, has been moved to become a Minister in the Department for Work and Pensions.
She is replaced by former Industry Minister and London MP Sarah Jones. Dame Diana said it had been “an honour” to work as Policing Minister.
In the role she presided over efforts to tackle crime in town centres, strengthen firearms licensing and reduce knife crime with the introduction of a dedicated taskforce earlier this summer. As reported by GrimsbyLive, she recently spoke about additional police officers on the streets of northern Lincolnshire in the wake of the Government’s commitment to 13,000 more officers nationwide during the course of this parliament.
Dame Diana has now moved to a new “super ministry” overseen by new Work and Pensions Secretary Pat McFadden – which is said to be a sign Government intends to push ahead with some radical welfare reform in its search for economic growth. Mr McFadden replaces Liz Kendall, who has been moved to take over as the Science, Innovation and Technology Secretary.
In a post to the social media platform X, Dame Diana said: “It has been an honour as the Policing Minister to work with so many excellent police officers, to start to restore neighbourhood policing, provide new powers to fight crime and prepare major policing reform . I am delighted to have now been appointed as a DWP Minister of State.”
Sir Keir Starmer said his focus was on “delivery” after his reshuffle in the wake of Ms Rayner’s departure. Her resignation came after an independent ethics investigation found she had failed to pay enough stamp duty on a seaside flat she bought in May. In a letter published on Friday, Sir Laurie Magnus said he believed she had acted in “good faith”, but that “the responsibility of any taxpayer for reporting their tax returns and settling their liabilities rests ultimately with themselves”.
Ms Rayner, the former Deputy Prime Minister and Housing Secretary admitted she had made a “mistake” and said she “deeply” regretted failing to seek additional specialist tax advice during the purchase in Hove.
Darren Jones, Chief Secretary to the Prime Minister denied the Government was in crisis and insisted Sir Keir now has the “strongest team” in place around the Cabinet table. He ruled out the prospect of an early election amid opposition claims that the upheaval could open up splits within Labour and collapse the Prime Minister’s authority.
There has been some criticism of the changes from Labour backbenchers. One told the PA news agency: “Angela made an unbalanced cabinet look slightly more balanced. But it was almost entirely skin deep and cosmetic. On literally every major issue she has tucked in behind them. A few leaked memos do not a left wing policy agenda, make.”
They added: “Now even the semblance of that illusion is gone. Maybe for the party overall that’s for the better in the long run. As for the consequences: Starmer just signed his own death warrant. He has to be gone before (Christmas) otherwise Wes (Streeting) faces Andy (Burnham).”