Boris Johnson has announced two new Downing Street appointments after a chaotic week with the departure of five senior officials and public criticism from ministers.
Steve Barclay, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, has been named Johnson’s chief of staff. Guto Harri, former BBC journalist and communications director during Johnson’s first term at City Hall as Mayor of London, will become the Prime Minister’s new communications director.
The announcement comes as Johnson faces more letters of no confidence in his position and fights to bolster backbench support during a police investigation into potential Covid legislation at the heart of his administration.
In a statement, Johnson said: “This week I have pledged change so that we can carry on with the work the British public has chosen us to do.
“The changes I’m announcing to my senior team today will improve the way No 10 works, strengthen the role of my cabinet and backbench colleagues, and accelerate our defining mission to improve the country.”
Johnson was forced to build a new team after the surprise departure of Munira Mirza, head of Policy Unit Number 10 and one of his longest-standing and closest associates, following a remark he made in parliament about Labor leader Sir Keir. Starmer and the infamous pedophile Jimmy Savile.
Mirza’s departure was followed by the resignation of Dan Rosenfield, chief of staff, director of communications Jack Doyle, private secretary Martin Reynolds and Elena Narozanski, another member of the policy unit.
Barclay has campaigned to leave the EU and is a close ally of Chancellor Rishi Sunak, who openly criticized Johnson’s behavior this week. Insiders said Barclay’s appointment was intended to assuage Sunak’s frustration with the current Downing Street operation.
A No 10 insider said of Barclay’s appointment: “He will be good. Was a whip, knows the lot. Very detail oriented.”
A spokesman for Barclay said he would integrate the prime minister’s new cabinet and cabinet.
A colleague of Harri also said he was a good date. “He knows him better than most – although he’s been out of the picture for a long time – and he’s mature.”
“But the truth is whether Boris is willing to lead by looking at himself, taking responsibility, acting like a prime minister – and that’s quite a question. He is not one for change,” she added.
Will Walden, another former City Hall adviser, was heard about the job but declined.
Harri recently resigned from GB News, the right-leaning British television station, amid a row over his decision to “take the knee”, the anti-racism gesture, during a debate over the show about English footballers being mistreated.
He is a long-standing ally of the prime minister and has criticized his former boss in recent years. Speaking to the BBC in 2018, he suggested Johnson was “digging his political grave” after comparing Theresa May’s Brexit deal to a “suicide vest”.
In an obvious reference to Johnson’s private life, he also told the broadcaster: “Unfortunately, he is now dragging us to a place where we think we can joke about suicide vests and that we can be sexually incontinent.
“Someone has to take the shovel out of his hand or else he’ll look like he’s digging his political grave.”
Downing Street said there will be further appointments in the coming days with a “particular focus on improving engagement and outreach with MPs”.
Meanwhile, Nick Gibb, a former minister and MP for Bognor Regis and Littlehampton, became the latest MP to reveal he had filed a letter of no confidence in Johnson on Friday.
Another former government minister, Stephen Hammond, said on Saturday he was “considering very carefully” whether he still had faith in Johnson.
The MP told BBC Radio 4’s Week In Westminster that he would “reflect on the events of the week, reflect on the fact that my constituents and I and almost the whole country were obeying the rules, and there seems to be a group of people who “.