New Faces Take Over Housing in Johnson Minister Shake-Up

Former journalist and TV presenter Esther McVey is Boris Johnson’s new housing and planning minister. 

She takes over the role of Kit Malthouse. Although she has not announced any plans for her job, she has plenty of controversial landlord and tenant changes under consultation. Malthouse, and his outgoing boss James Brokenshire, pushed through a flood of proposed law changes before they cleared their desks. 

They include:

• Scrapping Section 21 no-fault evictions, introducing a new housing court and replacing tenancy agreements with a new rolling contract.
• A major overhaul of housing standards is also due later in the year to update the housing health and safety rating system for houses in multiple occupation (HMOs).
• A new rogue landlord database naming and shaming the worst landlords in England is also under consideration.

McVey, 51, is MP for the Cheshire constituency of Tatton. Her last government post was Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, which she took up in January 2018, and she resigned in November 2018 in protest over the Brexit withdrawal agreement. 

Newark MP Robert Jenrick, 37, is the new Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government. He was previously Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury. An EU remainer before the 2016 referendum, he was one of the 188 MPs voting to leave without a deal before the March 29 deadline passed. 

Jenrick’s new role is to lead and manage strategy for the HCLG department. Malthouse, 52, has moved to the Home Office as Minister for Policing and Crime. The North West Hampshire MP stood against Prime Minister Johnson in the Tory leadership race but withdrew early on. Brokenshire has moved to the back benches in Parliament.