Dowden becomes UK deputy PM

On Friday, the British government named Oliver Dowden as the country’s deputy prime minister.

He took over for Dominic Raab, who resigned on Friday after being accused of bullying staff during his tenure in government.

WITHIN NIGERIA reports that Raab, who also quit as justice secretary, said in a resignation letter he felt “duty bound to accept the outcome of the inquiry” but said it “dismissed all but two of the claims levelled against me”.

Sunak’s appointment of Dowden as deputy prime minister cements his reputation in government as the prime minister’s right-hand man, after a stint in the Cabinet Office where he was responsible for coordinating the government’s response to winter strikes.

Dowden was culture, media and sport secretary for 18 months in Boris Johnson’s government, during which time he provided emergency funding for the arts during the pandemic and also banned Huawei from UK 5G networks, the Guardian UK reports.

Also, lawmaker Alex Chalk was appointed new justice minister, a position which was previously held by Raab.