Election 2010: Cameron's Cabinet

DAVID CAMERON has given his coalition partners, the Liberal Democrats, five of the 23 seats in his first Cabinet as Prime Minister.

Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg becomes Deputy Prime Minister and he will work alongside Mr Cameron on a daily basis in an attempt to make the coalition as strong as possible.

Dr Vince Cable gets a role as Business Secretary and Chris Huhne is Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change.

The other Lib Dems in the Cabinet are Secretary for Scotland Danny Alexander and Chief Secretary to the Treasury David Laws.

The number of seats held by the Lib Dems arguably shows how hard they negotiated in the five days after the general election and some Tories fear Mr Cameron may have given away too much.

But the main positions, the Great Offices of State, have still been given by the PM to his closest Conservative allies.

George Osborne is Chancellor of the Exchequer, William Hague is Foreign Secretary and Theresa May, one of just four women in the Cabinet, is Home Secretary.

Dr Liam Fox, Andrew Lansley and Michael Gove all retain their previous Shadow Cabinet portfolios in Defence, Health and Education respectively.

Meanwhile, there is a return to frontbench for former Tory leader Iain Duncan-Smith as Work and Pensions Secretary, and former Chancellor Ken Clarke is the newly-appointed Justice Secretary.


The Full Cabinet:
Prime Minister David Cameron MP (CON)
Mr Cameron only became an MP for Witney in Oxfordshire nine years ago at the 2001 general election but, ever since, he has seen his star on the rise. For just six months, he was Shadow Education Secretary before winning a Tory leadership contest, becoming the party's fourth leader in just over four years. He changed his party's fortunes for the better with the Tories regularly enjoying double-digit poll leads, except for Gordon Brown's short honeymoon period in 2007. But the polls narrowed during the election campaign and the election itself resulted in a hung parliament, though with the Tories having the most seats. After five days of negotiations, Mr Cameron became Prime Minister on 11th May in an historic coalition with the Liberal Democrats.

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg MP (LD)
Mr Clegg has been in the House of Commons for an even shorter period than Mr Cameron, first becoming an MP for Sheffield Hallam at the 2005 general election. Before then, Mr Clegg was an MEP for the East Midlands between 1999 and 2004 before a brief period as a lobbyist in Brussels. After becoming an MP, Mr Clegg made impressive strides within the Liberal Democrats, becoming their Home Affairs spokesperson in March 2006. In December 2007, he won the party's leadership election, beating Chris Huhne. His party enjoyed unprecedented coverage in the 2010 campaign with the introduction of television debates and gained a bounce in the polls. But, while this was not replicated on election day, a hung parliament still put Mr Clegg in the position of kingmaker.

Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne MP (CON)
Mr Osborne was elected as MP in the Tatton constituency in 2001, taking it back for the Tories after it had famously been won by independent Martin Bell in 1997. Since 2005, Mr Osborne has been Shadow Chancellor, most famously announcing a surprise pledge to cut inheritance tax at the 2007 Conservative Party Conference. That became a factor in ending Gordon Brown's early bounce in the polls in 2007 but it has now been shelved after negotiations with the Lib Dems.

Foreign Secretary William Hague MP (CON)
Mr Hague, MP for Richmond since a 1989 by-election victory, is best-known for his role as Leader of the Opposition between 1997 and 2001. He had a thankless task against the popularity of Tony Blair and left the post after another Labour landslide at the 2001 general election had barely changed the political map of Britain. A period on the backbenches followed before he returned to frontline politics as Shadow Foreign Secretary after David Cameron was elected leader of the Conservatives in December 2005. On occasions, Mr Hague has deputised for Mr Cameron at Prime Minister's Questions having gained a reputation when leader as a skillful and humorous debater at the despatch box.

Home Secretary Theresa May MP (CON)
Mrs May has been MP for Maidenhead since 1997 and was part of the Shadow Cabinet from 2003. She has served in several roles, starting with Environment and Transport at the same time between 2003 and 2005 before a brief period as Shadow Culture Secretary in 2005. After David Cameron became leader of the Conservatives, she was Shadow Leader of the House of Commons before a brief period as Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary until the election. Perhaps her most famous appearance actually came before she was in the Shadow Cabinet when she announced at the 2002 party conference that the Tories had to the rid themselves of a perceived "nasty party" tag. Mrs May is one of only four females in the Cabinet; she is also Minister for Women and Equality.

Justice Secretary Kenneth Clarke QC MP (CON)
A veteran Tory MP, having been first elected to serve Rushcliffe in 1970. As a result, 69-year-old Mr Clarke is one of the few members of this Cabinet to have been in government before, holding Secretary of State positions in Education and Health under Margaret Thatcher. Under her successor, John Major, Mr Clarke was briefly Home Secretary before becoming Chancellor in 1993 when Norman Lamont resigned over Black Wednesday. Mr Clarke was often at odds with his party over his pro-European views and has spent most of his time since the 1997 election defeat as a backbencher. He has, however, contested the leadership of the Tory party on three separate occasions - in 1997, 2001 and 2005 - but each time he has lost, failing to gain much support from his fellow Tory MPs because of his views on Europe. In January 2009, he became Shadow Business Secretary but he will be Justice Secretary in this new Cabinet.

Defence Secretary Dr Liam Fox MP (CON)
Dr Fox has been an MP for the Woodspring constituency, now called North Somerset, since 1992. He was Shadow Health Secretary under William Hague and Iain Duncan Smith, and Shadow Foreign Secretary under Michael Howard. Since David Cameron became leader of the Tory party, he has been Shadow Defence Secretary and takes on the role of Defence Secretary in the new government. He voted in favour of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, but has been critical of the lack of a post-invasion plan and poor equipment. Dr Fox contested the Tory leadership election won by Mr Cameron in 2005, losing out in the second round.

Business Secretary Dr Vince Cable MP (LD)
Dr Cable has been MP for Twickenham since 1997 but he has only gained a higher profile in recent times. Appointed as the Lib Dems' Treasury spokesperson in 2003 having previously worked as an economist, Dr Cable gained a reputation for making highly perceptive calls during the economic crisis. He assumed the position of Deputy Leader of the Lib Dems in 2006, becoming Acting Leader when Sir Menzies Campbell stepped down. Since Nick Clegg's election as Lib Dem leader, Dr Cable has returned to his role of Deputy Leader of the party, occasionally standing in for Mr Clegg at PMQs. He produced several strong performances in the chamber and famously delivered the line that Gordon Brown had gone "from Stalin to Mr Bean".

Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan-Smith MP (CON)
MP for Chingford and Woodford Green since 1992, Mr Duncan-Smith is another former Tory leader after he replaced William Hague in 2001. His tenure as Leader of the Opposition was brief, lasting just two years and two months before he was replaced by Michael Howard, having failed to contest a general election. Thereafter, he returned to the backbenches and established a right-wing think tank, the Centre for Social Justice. Returning to frontline politics as Work and Pensions Secretary, he will be expected to push through the Tories' wide-ranging welfare reforms.

Energy and Climate Change Secretary Chris Huhne MP (LD)
Mr Huhne has been MP for Eastleigh since 2005, having been an MEP for South East England between 1999 and 2005. He has had various posts on the Lib Dem benches since 2005, becoming their spokesman for the Treasury (2005-06) under Charles Kennedy, the Environment (2006-07) under Sir Menzies Campbell and Home Affairs under Nick Clegg since 2007. He lost the final ballot of two Lib Dem leadership elections in successive years to Menzies Campbell and Mr Clegg, and at the general election, Mr Huhne's seat had expected to be taken by the Tories. It featured as high as number 12 on their target list but Mr Huhne retained it with an increased majority.

Health Secretary Andrew Lansley CBE MP (CON)
Elected MP for South Cambridgeshire in 1997, Mr Lansley has been Shadow Health Secretary since 2004. He was forced to apologise when he claimed "good things", such as spending more time with family, could come from the recession. He received his CBE for his role in running the successful 1992 Conservative election campaign, described by himself as one of "his proudest career achievements".

Education Secretary Michael Gove MP (CON)
Mr Gove is a journalist turned politician who was first elected as MP to the House of Commons for Surrey Heath in 2005. In 2007, David Cameron appointed him as Shadow Education Secretary and he played a significant role during the general election campaign promoting the Tories' manifesto idea of a 'Big Society'.

Transport Secretary Philip Hammond MP (CON)
Mr Hammond was elected as MP for Runnymede and Weybridge in 1997 and was promoted by Michael Howard to the Shadow Cabinet as Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury in May 2005. Later that year, when David Cameron assumed the leadership of the Conservative party, Mr Hammond was moved to Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary before being moved back to his role as Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury in 2007.

Communities and Local Government Secretary Eric Pickles MP (CON)
Mr Pickles has been MP for Brentwood and Ongar since 1992 but he has only recent emerged as a familiar face on the political scene. In David Cameron's 2007 Shadow Cabinet reshuffle, Mr Pickles became Shadow Communities Secretary before becoming Chairman of the Conservative Party in 2009. Mr Pickles was the campaign manager for the Tory win in the 2008 Crewe and Nantwich by-election, and he was a notable figure throughout the general election campaign.

Also in the Cabinet:
Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Secretary Caroline Spelman MP (CON)
International Development Secretary Andrew Mitchell MP (CON)
Northern Ireland Secretary Owen Paterson MP (CON)
Secretary for Scotland Danny Alexander MP (LD)
Secretary for Wales Cheryl Gillan MP (CON)
Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport Secretary Jeremy Hunt MP (CON)
Mr Hunt will be responsible for the 2012 Olympic Games in London, taking over this position from Tessa Jowell.
Chief Secretary to the Treasury David Laws MP (LD)
Leader of the House of Lords Rt Hon Lord Strathclyde PC (CON)
Minister without portfolio Rt Hon Baroness Warsi (CON)
Baroness Warsi is the new Chairperson of the Conservative Party, taking over from Eric Pickles MP.