Lord Ian Duncan appointed to BEIS, completing Department’s new ministerial line-up

Photo: ToryScot [CC BY-SA 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)] 

Lord Duncan’s full new title is Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Climate Change – a role he moved into late last week after two years as Secretary for Northern Ireland.

In his role, he will lead the Government on topics such as smart meters, smart energy systems, heat decarbonisation and low-carbon innovations.

Lord Duncan will additionally serve as the Lords lead on all issues covered by BEIS more broadly.

The position was previously held by Lord Henley, who had served at BEIS for two years. 

Reacting to his appointment, Lord Duncan tweeted: “Honoured to be appointed @beisgovuk Minister for Climate Change. Serious challenges ahead, not least delivering net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.

“Working with @claireperrymp to secure UN #COP26 climate conference for Glasgow an early mission.”

Lord Duncan’s appointment completes new Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s reshuffle at BEIS. The full team is now as follows:

• Secretary of state – Andrea Leadsom
• Minister for energy and clean growth – Kwasi Kwarteng
• Minister of state – Jo Johnson
• Parliamentary under-secretary of state – Kelly Tolhurst
• Parliamentary under-secretary of state – Nadhim Zahawi
• Minister for climate change- Lord Ian Duncan

(Almost) all change

Those to have left BEIS during the cabinet reshuffle include former Energy Minister Claire Perry.

Perry relinquished her position, which she had held since January 2018,  in order to focus on a new role of COP26 President. The climate conference, which has been dubbed the most important since 2015, when the Paris Agreement was ratified, is due to be held in Glasgow in winter 2020.

New BEIS leader Leadsom had served as Minister of State for Energy at the now-defunct Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC) until the Brexit referendum in 2016. Leadsom was then given the job of Environment Secretary in July 2016 as part of Theresa May’s first reshuffle as Prime Minister, which she held until the following summer’s general election.

Elsewhere, Michael Gove was promoted from Environment Secretary at Defra to Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. His role was taken by Theresa Villiers, a prominent Vote Leave campaigner who has vocally campaigned against the expansion of Heathrow Airport and for better animal welfare policy.

Sarah George