More on KentOnline
More on KentOnline
Kent MP Helen Whately has a new role in government following Boris Johnson's re-shuffle.
Mrs Whately is to move from her position as Minister of State for Social Care to become the Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury.
Although not regarded as one of the top jobs, the position has far-ranging responsibilities and the 45-year-old mother-of-three will now be in charge of regional devolution, competition policy, skills and migration, digital roll-out, corporate governance, energy infrastructure, excise duty and the Crown Estate and Royal Household.
The position has previously been the launching pad to the Cabinet for some of the bigger names in the party, including Priti Patel and Robert Jenrick.
Mrs Whately replaces Kemi Badenock MP in the role.
She became the MP for Faversham and Mid Kent, which includes a large part of Maidstone, in 2015.
The former Oxford graduate lives between homes in London and Faversham.
The Prime Minister began announcing his re-shuffle on Wednesday with the top posts seeing Michael Gove replace Robert Jenrick as housing minister, and Nadhim Zahawi replace Gavin Williamson as Secretary of State for Education. Liz Truss replaced Dominic Raab as Foreign Secretary and Priti Patel kept her job as Home Secretary.
Mrs Whately has Tweeted her delight at her new role, saying she was looking forward to boosting growth across the UK and helping the country to hit its net zero commitments.
