Cabinet reshuffle - as it happened: Theresa May's attempt at show of strength ruined by ministers refusing to be moved
How the Prime Minister's New Year's reshuffle happened
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Your support makes all the difference.Theresa May’s attempts to reassert her authority through a Cabinet reshuffle ran into difficulties after senior ministers refused to move from their jobs.
Education Secretary Justine Greening dramatically quit the Government when Ms May tried to move her to the Department of Work and Pensions, leaving the Prime Minister scrambling to promote junior ministers to her top team.
Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt also spent more than 90 minutes in Downing Street where he resisted Ms May's attempts to persuade him to switch to Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) and allow Business Secretary Greg Clark to take on his role.
Cabinet “big beasts” such as Boris Johnson, Philip Hammond and Amber Rudd all kept their jobs, which led to critics quoting the PM's widely mocked election campaign claim that "nothing has changed" - when she made a major U-turn on a social care pledge.
Earlier, the shake-up descended into chaos when the Conservatives’ official Twitter account accidentally put out that Transport Secretary Chris Grayling would become party chairman – before Immigration Minister Brandon Lewis was officially appointed shortly after.
Former Justice Secretary David Lidington was appointed to replace the PM's close ally Damian Green, who was sacked as the Cabinet Office minister and de facto Prime Minister last month for misleading statements over pornography found on his office computer.
A younger and more diverse team of MPs was appointed to hold various Conservative party posts, although the appointment of pro-life MP Maria Caulfield to a prominent women's role attracted controversy.
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Number 10 has now confirmed that Justine Greening has left the Government.
She was reportedly offered the chance to be Work and Pensions Secretary but turned it down.
Developing story here:
Theresa May is "disappointed" but respects former education secretary Justine Greening's decision to leave the Government after being offered the Work and Pensions Department, Downing Street sources have said.
Several Conservatives have been tweeting about Justine Greening's departure from Government, including influential Scottish Tory leader Ruth Davidson.
Esther McVey has been also been promoted to become Work and Pensions Secretary.
She was only re-elected to Parliament in June, when she stood as a candidate in Tatton, the seat belonging to former Chancellor George Osborne.
Ms McVey - who has previously held junior ministerial roles in the Department for Work and Pensions - was recently made Deputy Chief Whip by Theresa May.
Meanwhile, sharp-eyed reporters noticed that Jeremy Hunt had been rather unkind to his former Cabinet colleague Justine Greening.
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