Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities Simon Clarke MP has announced that he will not be continuing his role within new prime minister Rishi Sunak’s cabinet.
This comes as Sunak has cut 10 ministers in total from the previous cabinet, including others such as Jacob Rees-Mogg.
Clarke said it had been a “great privilege” to serve in the role, adding that “it [has] only been while holding these positions that I’ve come to appreciate the full weight of responsibility that ministers bear”.
It has been a great privilege to serve as Secretary of State @luhc, working alongside some terrific people to #LevelUp our communities, just as it was before that as Chief Secretary @hmtreasury.
— Simon Clarke MP (@SimonClarkeMP) October 25, 2022
Clarke will make way for the fourth Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities this year alone.
Even prior to his departure some had criticised the high turnover of housing chiefs in government, suggesting it reduced the coherence and potence of any policies as the leadership was never around long enough to see them implemented.
Whether this latest handing over of the department will bring about any change – perhaps even a housing tsar with added permanence – remains to be seen.
