The Tory party was shaken to its core last night as two of Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s most senior Cabinet ministers resigned.
Rishi Sunak stood down as Chancellor of the Exchequer while Sajid Javid resigned from his position as Health Secretary.
The back-to-back resignations happened within just minutes of each other, rocking an already fragile Tory government.
In his resignation letter, Javid said that he’d lost confidence in the leadership of Boris Johnson.
The former Health Secretary has now been replaced by Steve Barclay.
Mr Barclay said: “It is an honour to take up the position of Health and Social Care Secretary.
"Our NHS and social care staff have showed us time and again - throughout the pandemic and beyond - what it means to work with compassion and dedication to transform lives.
“This government is investing more than ever before in our NHS and care services to beat the Covid backlogs, recruit 50,000 more nurses, reform social care and ensure patients across the country can access the care they need.”
As he takes over the senior position, here’s everything you need to know about the new Health Secretary Steve Barclay.
Who is Steve Barclay?
Steve Barclay is a Conservative MP for North East Cambridgeshire.
The 50-year-old politician is from Lytham St Annes in Lancashire.
His father was a trade union official while his mother was a civil servant and Barclay has described himself as coming from a “working-class Northern background”.
Barclay is a qualified solicitor and has been a Member of Parliament since 2010.
He attended Sandhurst Military Academy and also studied history at the University of Cambridge.
Steve Barclay’s career history
Barclay started his career in the British Army, which he served in before going to University.
Following this, he worked in the financial sector, taking on roles as a regulator for the Financial Services Authority and head of anti-money laundering at Barclays Bank prior to his political career.
He entered parliament for the first time in 2010 after two failed attempts at getting elected and became Lord Commissioner of the Treasury in 2016.
In 2017 he left this role to take on the job of the Economic Secretary to the Treasury.
In 2018 after the cabinet reshuffle Barclay became the Minister of State for Health.
Barclay was a big supporter of the Vote Leave campaign in the run-up to the Brexit referendum in 2016 and in 2018 he was also appointed as Brexit secretary after the resignation of Dominic Raab.
He served as Brexit secretary until 2020, when he returned to the Cabinet as Chief Secretary to the Treasury.
In the 2021 Cabinet reshuffle, Barclay was promoted to Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster.
Barclay has been a loyal ally of Johnson’s and in February 2022, he was appointed as the Prime Minister’s Chief of Staff after Dan Rosenfield resigned amid the Partygate scandal.
Steve Barclay’s voting record
As the new Secretary of State for Health, Steve Barclay will be responsible for the health department’s business and policies, which includes financial control and the oversight of the NHS.
According to TheyWorkForYou, Steve Barclay’s voting record when it comes to issues around health has included:
- Voting against allowing terminally ill people to be given assistance to end their life
- Almost always voting for reforming the NHS so GPs buy services on behalf of their patients
- Almost always voting for smoking bans
- Consistently voting against restricting the provision of services to private patients by the NHS
When it comes to other areas, such as transport, social issues, education, taxation and home affairs, Barclay’s voting record on some of the top issues has included:
- Consistently voting for merging police and fire services
- Almost always voting for a stricter asylum system
- Consistently voting for stronger enforcement of immigration rules
- Consistently voting for mass surveillance of people’s communications and activities
- Consistently voting for the introduction of elected Police and Crime Commissioners
- Almost always voting for higher taxes on plane tickets
- Voting a mixture of for and against lower taxes on fuel for motor vehicles
- Generally voting against a publicly owned railway system
- Almost always voting against slowing the rise in rail fares
- Generally voting for allowing same sex marriage
- Generally voting for equal gay rights
- Generally voting against laws to promote equality and human rights
- Almost always voting against transferring more powers to the Scottish Parliament and Welsh Parliament
- Generally voting against a more proportional system for electing MPs
- Almost always voting against a lower voting age
- Consistently voting for reducing central government funding of local government
- Voting a mixture of for and against measures to reduce tax avoidance
- Almost always voting for reducing the rate of corporation tax
- Consistently voting for university tuition fees
- Consistently voting for a reduction in spending on welfare benefits
- Consistently voting against raising welfare benefits at least in line with prices
- Almost always voting against UK membership of the EU
- Almost always voting for increasing the rate of VAT
- Almost always voting for higher taxes on alcoholic drinks
- Consistently voting against increasing the tax rate applied to income over £150,000
- Generally voted against measures to prevent climate change
Who is Steve Barclay’s wife?
Steven Barclay is married and has children.
His wife’s name is Karen Barclay, although not much information is known about her or their relationship yet.
The pair have two children together.
