Rory Stewart, MP for Penrith and The Border, has been appointed to the Cabinet as Secretary of State for International Development.
The appointment was made by the Prime Minister this evening, as part of a wider reshuffle of Ministers. Rory replaces Penny Mordaunt MP, who has moved to Secretary of State for Defence. The Secretary of State for International Development is responsible for the distribution of the UK’s aid budget, tackling everything from the challenges of global warming to the UK’s humanitarian response to global catastrophes.
Rory has previously served at the Department for International Development as the Minister of State for Africa, from 2016 until his move to the Ministry of Justice in 2018 as Minister of State for Prisons and Probation. In this final capacity, he has championed the work of the prison and probation services and recently achieved a substantial reduction in the levels of violence within ten target troubled prisons. Prior to this, he served as Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at DEFRA and Chairman of the Defence Select Committee.
Commenting on his appointment Rory said: “I was delighted to accept the Prime Minister’s invitation to serve as Secretary of State for International Development and I am honoured by this opportunity. I would like to pay tribute to the work of my predecessor, Penny Mordaunt, in re-orientating British aid policy in the aftermath of Brexit. I immensely enjoyed my time at the Ministry of Justice and I will look forward to seeing the work that I was proud to begin, continue under my successor.”
