Gove moved in cabinet reshuffle

15 July 2014 Last updated at 09:30

Education Secretary Michael Gove is to become the new chief whip in the most wide-ranging cabinet reshuffle of David Cameron's premiership.

He has been replaced by Treasury minister Nicky Morgan, as Mr Cameron promotes more women into top jobs.

Ken Clarke is among the old guard to have stood down and Foreign Secretary William Hague has moved to a lower profile role as Commons leader.

Defence Secretary Philip Hammond has taken over at the foreign office.

Announcing Mr Gove's move to Chief Whip, normally a behind-the-scenes role, in charge of party discipline, Mr Cameron said on his Twitter feed that the former education secretary would have "an enhanced role in campaigning and doing broadcast media interviews".

A string of retirements were announced overnight, with their replacements expected to be unveiled during the course of the morning.

Women tipped for promotion include Liz Truss, who is expected to become environment secretary, work and pensions minister Esther McVey, whips Claire Perry and Amber Rudd and Priti Patel.

Among other changes, it has been reported that former defence secretary Liam Fox could return to the government although this has yet to be confirmed.

BBC political editor Nick Robinson said Environment Secretary Owen Paterson has effectively being fired while former Commons leader Andrew Lansley has also left the government.

Conservative MPs to have lost or left their ministerial jobs include:

David Jones, ex-Welsh secretary
David Willetts, ex-universities minister
Sir George Young, ex-chief whip
Nick Hurd, ex-minister for civil society
Hugh Robertson, ex-Foreign Office minister
Greg Barker, ex-energy minister
Alan Duncan, ex-international development minister
Andrew Robathan, ex-Northern Ireland minister
Damian Green, ex-policing minister.

But the biggest name in the changes has been Mr Hague, who announced late on Monday that he had decided to step down as an MP at next year's general election after 26 years - including four turbulent years as Tory leader.

Until then he will be, as Mr Cameron put it, his "de facto political deputy" and leader of the House of Commons.

'Massacre of moderates'

Some see the expected appointment of Mr Hammond - who has said he could vote to leave the EU if the UK did not get the changes it wanted in a future re-negotiation - and the departure of Dominic Grieve as Attorney General as a shift towards a more Eurosceptic stance.

But Ken Clarke - the cabinet's most prominent Europhile - heading for ministerial retirement after a career in frontline politics that stretches back to the early 1970s dismissed such claims, telling BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "If the whole thing is all about Europe then we really have gone mad."

He also praised Mr Cameron's decision to promote more women into frontline roles, saying it was long overdue.

Analysis

By Nick Robinson, BBC Political Editor

On Monday the losers learnt their fate.

Now we will discover who are the winners in a reshuffle made more dramatic and more wide-ranging by the decision of William Hague to quit the post he has filled for four years.

Sarapan Oatmeal