Sir Keir Starmer has said “so now we get on with our work” as he chaired his first cabinet meeting following Labour’s landslide win that ended 14 years of Tory rule.
The prime minister told his his top team it was “absolutely fantastic” to welcome them to Downing Street, but warned there was a “huge amount” to do.
The Labour leader had made few changes to his frontbench line-up that existed before the election.
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Among those around the table in Number 10 was Chancellor Rachel Reeves, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper, and Deputy Prime Minister and Housing Secretary Angela Rayner.
Sir Keir says it was the ‘honour and privilege’ of his life to be invited by the King to form a government. Pic: Reuters
Others attending were Health Secretary Wes Streeting, Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson, and Foreign Secretary David Lammy.
Shabana Mahmood and Ed Miliband retained their respective justice and energy portfolios, while John Healey stayed with defence and Jonathan Reynolds at business.
However, Sir Keir picking experienced human rights lawyer Richard Hermer KC for attorney general rather than Emily Thornberry, who held the shadow role prior to the election.
He will become a peer to take up the top law officer job.
Flanked by Ms Rayner and Cabinet Secretary Simon Case, who reportedly will be stepping down, Sir Keir told his new cabinet: “Look, colleagues, it is absolutely fantastic to welcome you to the cabinet, our first meeting.
“And it was the honour and privilege of my life to be invited by the King, his majesty the King, yesterday to form a government and to form the Labour government of 2024.
“And now we hold our first cabinet meeting. So I welcome you to it.
“We have a huge amount of work to do, so now we get on with our work.”
His words were met with loud applause.
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High on the cabinet agenda was likely be the the six first steps set out in the Labour manifesto: delivering economic stability, cutting NHS waiting times, launching a new border security command, creating Great British Energy, cracking down on anti-social behaviour and recruiting 6,500 new teachers.
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‘My government will serve you’
The new prime minister faces a series of challenges on taking office, including an NHS waiting list of 6.3 million patients, the small boats crisis in the Channel, an overstretched prison system, and sluggish economic growth.
The scale of the problems to be addressed was underlined by Environment Secretary Steve Reed who told colleagues that “it will take years” to tackle the sewage and nature crises.
He said: “There is no sugarcoating it – we face a crisis point. Record levels of sewage in our rivers, lakes and seas. Nature is dying. Confidence amongst farmers at the lowest on record.
“It will take years to reverse this damage, but the work of change begins now.”
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UK election over 24 hours
Leaving No 10, Mr Streeting said the first meeting was “very good” and added: “We’re getting to work straight away.”
Earlier, Mr Miliband, who served in Gordon Brown’s cabinet and was later Labour leader, said: “It’s good to be back.”
Sir Keir is due later to face questions at his first news conference as prime minister.
He will make his debut on the international stage just days into his appointment, when he travel to Washington DC next week for the NATO leaders’ summit.
He will also host the European Political Community summit in the UK on 18 July.
In his first speech as prime minister on the steps of Downing Street, Sir Keir – who said he will not work past 6pm on Fridays to spend time with his family – promised his new government would “serve you” and that “politics can be a force for good”.
“Our country has voted decisively for change, for national renewal and a return of politics to public service,” he said.
“Our work is urgent, and we begin it today.”
