David Gauke appointed Work and Pensions Secretary

Gauke was previously chief secretary to the treasury and has served as the Conservative MP for Hertfordshire South West since May 2005.

He was a member of the Treasury Select Committee from February 2006 until he was appointed as a Shadow Minister for the Treasury in June 2007.

Gauke replaces Damian Green who has been appointed to the role of First Secretary of State, and Minister for the Cabinet Office.

Former Housing Minister Gavin Barwell has been appointed as Theresa May's chief of staff after Nick Timothy and Fiona Hill resigned.

Speaking on Twitter yesterday, Gauke said he was "delighted and honoured to have been appointed Secretary of State for Work & Pensions" and thanked those at HMT "who made being a Treasury Minister for the last 7 years such a great experience".

Steve Webb, Director of Policy at Royal London and former Pensions Minister, commented: "There are few ministers who could have been appointed to this role who know as much about pensions as David Gauke. In his five years at the Treasury during the Coalition he played a key role in developing the detail of the pension freedoms and was a keen supporter of automatic enrolment.

"I always found him to be knowledgeable and willing to engage in discussion and debate. However, as Secretary of State at the DWP there will be many other issues to take up his time, including welfare reform, disability benefits and employment policy. The lack of an outright Conservative majority means radical reform in any area will be hard to get through Parliament, but we may see sensible incremental changes as a result of the review of automatic enrolment.

"As a former Chief Secretary to the Treasury he will be used to focusing on keeping spending under control, but political pressures may mean savings on the triple lock and on winter fuel payments have to be kicked into the long grass."