Profile of new UK interior minister, James Cleverly

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced the appointment of James Cleverly as the new interior minister on Monday, transferring the 54-year-old from his previous role as foreign secretary, a position he held for a year. This change, part of Sunak’s inaugural significant cabinet reshuffle after almost 13 months in office, came following the dismissal of Suella Braverman as interior minister earlier in the day.

Outlined below are key highlights about the new UK interior minister sourced from Wikipedia and major UK news outlets as reported by PUNCH Online:

1. Born on September 4, 1969, to a British father and a Sierra Leonean mother.

2. Educated at Riverton School and Colfe’s School in Lee, London. His military training was interrupted by a leg injury in 1989. He obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree in hospitality management studies from Ealing College of Higher Education (now University of West London) in 1991.

3. He held positions at Verenigde Nederlandse Uitgeverijen and later worked as an international sales manager at Informa in 2002.

4. Cleverly transitioned to roles at Crimson Publishing and then became the online commercial manager for Caspian Publishing in 2006.

5. Co-founded the web publishing company Point and Fire the following year.

6. Served as an Army Reserve Officer and assumed the role of Home Secretary in 2023.

7. Actively engaged in the Conservative Party and previously held the position of Secretary of State for Education.

8. Advocated in favor of Brexit during the 2016 European Union membership referendum.

9. Appointed as Foreign Secretary in September 2022 by then-Prime Minister Liz Truss, marking the first individual of African heritage to hold the position in British history.

10. Married Susannah Sparks in 2000, and the couple has two sons.