New UK PM Liz Truss' cabinet is Britain's first without a white man in four most senior posts

Liz Truss, who defeated Rishi Sunak to become Britain's third female Prime Minister, has selected a cabinet where for the first time a white man is not holding any of the country's four most senior ministerial positions.

 

The new UK cabinet is also Britain's most diverse ever, with women being the prime minister and deputy prime minister, and Black and South Asian politicians being given many of the top jobs.

Liz Truss has appointed Indian-origin Suella Braverman as the new UK Home Secretary. A daughter of a Hindu Tamil mother and Goan-origin father, the 42-year-old has succeeded fellow colleague of Indian descent Priti Patel.

 

While Braverman's mother migrated to the UK from Mauritius, her father migrated from Kenya in the 1960s. (Photo credits: Reuters)

James Cleverly has become Britain's first Black foreign minister.

 

His mother hails from Sierra Leone (a country in West Africa) and his father is white. (Photo credits: Reuters)

Liz Truss has appointed Kwasi Kwarteng as Britain's first Black finance minister. 

 

Kwarteng's parents came to the UK from Ghana in the 1960s. (Photo credits: Reuters)

Therese Coffey has been appointed UK's new health secretary and is also the deputy prime minister.

 

Coffey, notably, is the first woman in the deputy job. (Photo credits: Reuters)

Liz Truss' Conservative party has the best track record of political firsts among the main political parties, including appointing the first Jewish prime minister in Benjamin Disraeli in 1868.

 

The first lawmaker of Asian descent, Mancherjee Bhownaggree in 1895, also came from the Conservative party.

 

The Conservatives have also elected all three of the UK's female prime ministers - Margaret Thatcher, Theresa May and now Liz Truss. (Photo credits: Reuters)