Jul

Despite resigning, Boris appoints new secretary of state for housing

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Landlords have a new secretary of state for housing to deal with after Boris Johnson appointed Greg Clarke, MP for Tunbridge Wells, to the role.

This followed the PM’s sacking of Michael Gove from the position late last night for ‘disloyalty’.

Many within the sector were disappointed to see Gove go after he brought a more considered and proactive attitude to the reform of the housing market – albeit his White Paper has not been popular with many landlords.

But the ministerial vacancies remain at the Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC), with posts still unfilled following the resignation of Andrew Stuart.

For a time, just Eddie Hughes, who has kept quiet during yesterday’s multiple resignations, was the only housing minister at the DLUHC.

Previous experience

Clarke has experience of housing policy having served at the department briefly during David Cameron’s government before becoming Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, a post he held until 2019.

How long he keeps the job is debatable – the PM has spent the past few hours appointing new ministers to replace those who have departed in recent days despite an expected official resignation announcement expected later today.
Reports indicate that Johnson is to become a caretaker PM until his party elects a new leader – but a new PM is unlikely to stick with his choice of ministers.

Hughes spent much of the past few days keeping his head down, except to give a speech at an affordable homes conference in London held by CapitalLetters, and chipping in a solitary but supportive tweet.

At the conference, during which he announced £14m in funding for the homeless housing organisation, no mention of the poisonous political backdrop was made.

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