May Plans Cabinet Shake-Up With Five Ministers Going, Times Says

(Bloomberg) -- U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May is planning to make major changes to her cabinet in the new year, possibly sacking as many as five ministers, according to the Sunday Times.

May has decided to bring younger members of Parliament into her government as part of a series of steps aimed at convincing voters she can do more than Brexit, the newspaper reported, without saying how it obtained the information.

The ministers who could lose their jobs are:

• Patrick McLoughlin, Conservative party chairman
• Justine Greening, education secretary
• Greg Clark, business secretary
• Chris Grayling, transport secretary
• Andrea Leadsom, leader of the House of Commons

May's aides also want a new Brexit role for Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, though the newspaper says his supporters would see this as a demotion. Chancellor Philip Hammond is set to keep his job.

Other possible changes identified by the Times include: 

• Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt replacing Damian Green in his cabinet office role, but without the title of first secretary of state, or deputy premier
• Brandon Lewis to take over as party chairman
• Dominic Raab and Damian Hinds to enter the cabinet, with no specific assignments mentioned by the Times

Green, who was dismissed by May on Dec. 20 after making misleading statements during an investigation, was the third member of her cabinet to leave office since the start of November. Defense Secretary Michael Fallon quit over inappropriate sexual behavior while Priti Patel stepped down as international development secretary after she misled the premier over private meetings with Israeli officials.

To contact the reporter on this story: Thomas Biesheuvel in London at tbiesheuvel@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Lynn Thomasson at lthomasson@bloomberg.net, Steve Geimann, Amy Teibel

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