Boris Johnson takes office on Wednesday as British prime minister and will then unveil the names of the team he has tasked with delivering Brexit by the end of October, with or without a deal and of the rest of his Cabinet.
Investors are braced to see who will be handed the top jobs such as finance minister, foreign secretary and Brexit minister.
Interior minister Sajid Javid is widely tipped to stay in a top job – possibly as finance minister – and was spotted flanking Johnson as he arrived before lawmakers.
British Prime Minister Theresa May leaves Downing Street in London, Britain, 24 July 2019. Theresa May is stepping down as British Prime Minister following her resignation as Conservative Party leader on 07 June. Former London mayor and foreign secretary Boris Johnson is taking over the post after he was election as Tories party leader was announced the previous day. EPA-EFE/NEIL HALL
There is talk that Johnson will appoint career diplomat David Frost as European Union sherpa and adviser on Europe. Dominic Cummings, the Brexit-supporting campaign director of Vote Leave, will be a senior adviser, a source for the new leader’s team said.
A record number of ethnic minority politicians are expected to serve as ministers including Priti Patel, the former aid minister who resigned in 2017 over undisclosed meetings with Israeli officials, and employment minister Alok Sharma.
Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt, Johnson’s rival for the leadership, was offered the job of defense minister, but turned it down, Sky reported.
Johnson has pledged to negotiate a new Brexit deal with the EU before Oct. 31 but if the bloc refuses, he has promised to leave without a deal on Halloween.
That, many investors warn, would send shock waves through the world economy and tip the world’s fifth largest economy into recession or even chaos.
