New UK Cabinet is diverse in makeup and solidly on the right

LONDON (AP) — Liz Truss’s new Cabinet is Britain’s most diverse ever, with women serving as prime minister and deputy prime minister and Black and South Asian politicians filling many of the top jobs.

While they come from different backgrounds, the new ministers share Truss’ small-state, free-market economic views and staunch support for Britain’s exit from the European Union.

The government’s diversity reflects years of work by the right-of-center Conservative Party to shake its “pale, male and stale” image. Former Prime Minister David Cameron, who was party leader between 2005 and 2016, made a push to draft diverse candidate shortlists for winnable seats.

The drive has transformed the upper tiers of a party whose 172,000-strong national membership remains overwhelmingly white and largely male. Among Tory legislators, 24% are women and 6% belong to ethnic minorities. The main opposition Labour Party is more diverse — and gets more support from non-white voters — but has yet to have a leader who wasn't a white man. Truss is the third female Conservative prime minister.

Here’s a look at key players in Truss’s government:

CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUER KWASI KWARTENG

Britain’s first Black Treasury chief is a long-time friend and ally of Truss. A decade ago they were co-authors of the political treatise “Britannia Unchained,” which notoriously included the claim that British workers are “among the worst idlers in the world.”

Born in London to Ghanaian parents, Kwarteng was Educated at Eton College – the elite private school attended by multiple prime ministers including Boris Johnson – and Cambridge University. Holding a Ph.D. in economic history, Kwarteng is regarded as one of the party’s intellectual heavyweights.

He will...