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Morning Briefing: Malthouse leaves MHCLG as reshuffle continues
Kit Malthouse has officially left his position as housing minister as Boris Johnson’s reshuffle continues
In the news
Mr Johnson is continuing to appoint new ministers. According to the BBC’s story on the appointments, the reshuffle is expected to conclude today.
Last night’s changes saw housing minister Mr Malthouse become policing minister, putting him in charge of Mr Johnson’s pledge to recruit 20,000 extra police officers.
The move renews a dynamic between Mr Johnson and Mr Malthouse from the former’s time as London mayor, when Mr Malthouse was his deputy mayor for policing.
It also comes close to confirming Esther McVey, who was yesterday appointed minister of state at the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG), as the new housing minister.
Traditionally, the minister of state at MHCLG takes on the housing portfolio, but Number 10 has said portfolios are still being confirmed. Although Ms MsVey has appeared to confirm the news on Twitter.
Her appointment has sparked interest in the media with the Liverpool Echo saying the MP, who was born in the city, “may be the most reviled politician on Merseyside”.
Politics Home has a story on the response from the Federation of Master Builders (FMB) to Ms McVey’s appointment.
The FMB welcomes her to the new position but complains about a lack of continuity, with Ms McVey becoming the 10th housing minister in 10 years.
Elsewhere, speculation has continued over Mr Johnson’s policy plans, with The Times reporting that the controversial Help to Buy scheme could be extended.
In response to questioning from the paper about extending the Help to Buy beyond its current expiry date of 2023, new housing secretary Robert Jenrick said “all options are on the table”.
In other news, the Huff Post carries a report on a father and son who were stuck living in a tent for 15 months thanks to in-work poverty.
Steve Snade and his son Billy appear in the first two episodes of Broke, a documentary series from the BBC, the first episode aired last night.
The Manchester Evening News continues its coverage of the region’s homelessness crisis with an interview with Shane Leith, who is sleeping rough in Rochdale.
As part of the same article, the paper also speaks to outreach workers in the area, who cast doubt on mayor Andy Burnham’s claims that rough sleeping is reducing.
In the same newspaper is a story about plans to build a residential tower block in central Manchester, which have been withdrawn at the eleventh hour.
According to the paper, the developers plan to “refine” their proposal and look at bringing affordable housing, which they initially said was not viable, into the scheme.
Ealing is also set to see a new residential tower block, according to The Construction Index, which reports on plans from developer Southern Grove and housing association Metropolitan Thames Valley.
According to the story, the block, dubbed ‘55 West’, would contain only affordable housing.
On social media
A graph showing the tenures of housing ministers since 2001:
Time to update the old Housing Ministers by length of service chart. Kit Malthouse's 12 months was slightly below the average of 14.6 months for Housing Ministers since 2001. #ukhousing pic.twitter.com/Gw6Ala9uLv
— David O'Leary (@DOLeary100) July 25, 2019
