Sunak targets Truss 'mistakes' with familiar faces in new cabinet

Britain's new Prime Minister Rishi Sunak resurrected familiar faces and kept on Jeremy Hunt as Chancellor while vowing to fix the "mistakes" of Liz Truss's leadership on his first day in the top job.
During his first several hours at the helm, Sunak culled nearly a dozen of his predecessor Liz Truss's top-tier ministers including Jacob Rees-Mogg before reviving the careers of several ousted frontbenchers.
The new Tory leader warned that the UK is facing a "profound economic crisis" and braced the nation for "difficult decisions" as he criticised his predecessor's record.
Eager to reassure the markets, Sunak maintained Hunt's position in the Treasury after he was brought in to secure the economy after Truss's disastrous mini-budget.
The cost of government borrowing dropped and the pound rallied to the highest level since before the chaos, as Hunt warned it will be "tough" ahead of his October 31 financial statement.
Boris Johnson's loyalists who stayed close to Truss were among the 11 ministers who were out of government, while Sunak rewarded allies with Cabinet roles.
Raab won the positions of Deputy Prime Minister and Justice Secretary, roles he held under Boris Johnson before being sacked by Truss.
Suella Braverman returned as Home Secretary six days after launching an attack on Truss when she was forced from the role over a breach of the Ministerial Code.
The chief rebel behind Truss's U-turn on the top rate of income tax, Michael Gove returned to the Levelling Up Secretary role he was dismissed from after telling Johnson to quit.
Steve Barclay, who supported both of Sunak's bids for the Tory leadership, became Health Secretary, returning to the role he lost under Truss.
Grant Shapps was demoted from the top of the Home Office to Business Secretary to allow Braverman's return, as Kemi Badenoch clung on to Trade Secretary.
Having two popular figures on the Conservative right in prominent positions will be seen as a bid to bring together the warring party.
Penny Mordaunt came out of the reshuffle as Commons Leader, failing to win a promotion after she challenged Sunak for the leadership.
Allies of Sunak benefited, with Mel Stride appointed Work and Pensions Secretary and Oliver Dowden becoming Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, having resigned as party chairman after a disastrous double by-election loss under Johnson.
Another Sunak ally, Mark Harper, was handed the role of Transport Secretary, while former Education Secretary Sir Gavin Williamson returns to Government as minister without portfolio in the Cabinet Office.
Therese Coffey, one of Truss's closest friends in Westminster, was demoted from deputy PM and health secretary to become Environment Secretary.
James Cleverly was kept on as Foreign Secretary and Ben Wallace as Defence Secretary, showing Mr Sunak was not entirely breaking with the past two administrations.
Simon Hart was brought in as Chief Whip to restore party discipline, with Sunak having warned the party: "Unite or die."
Kit Malthouse and Simon Clarke followed Rees-Mogg out of the Cabinet as loyalists of Johnson who stuck by Truss.
Tory chairman Sir Jake Berry, a champion of Mr Johnson's levelling up agenda, and chief whip Wendy Morton also departed.
More than an hour after Truss defended her economic strategy in her farewell speech from Downing Street on Tuesday morning, Sunak stood outside No 10 Downing Street criticising her brief tenure.
Sunak said his predecessor, whose 49 days in office made her the shortest-lasting PM in history, was "not wrong" to want to drive up growth, describing it as a "noble aim."
"But some mistakes were made. Not born of ill will or bad intentions - quite the opposite in fact. But mistakes nonetheless," he added. ``I've been elected as leader of my party and your Prime Minister in part to fix them - and that work begins immediately."
Sunak, 42, became the UK's first Hindu PM, the first of Asian heritage and the youngest for more than 200 years when he was appointed by King Charles at Buckingham Palace.
Johnson, who had plotted a comeback less than two months after he resigned following a series of scandals, offered his "congratulations" to Mr Sunak just after his speech ended.
As he became the third prime minister based on the mandate won by Mr Johnson in the 2019 general election, Sunak vowed to deliver on the last manifesto's promises. "All I can say is that I am not daunted. I know the high office I have accepted and I hope to live up to its demands," he said.