On Wednesday morning, Downing Street announced James Cleverly as foreign secretary and Kwasi Kwarteng as her chancellor. Suella Braverman will serve as home secretary.

Kwarteng, whose parents emigrated from Ghana as students in the 1960s, is the UK’s first black chancellor, while Cleverly’s mother came from Sierra Leone. Braverman’s mother was born in Mauritius and her father moved to Britain from Kenya.

The three are among only 11 black or Asian MPs to have attended the cabinet. It was not until 2014 that Sajid Javid became the first non-white Conservative MP to join the cabinet.

Kwarteng is the fourth non-white chancellor in a row, after Javid, Rishi Sunak and Nadhim Zahawi, while Braverman is third home secretary in a row following Javid and Priti Patel.

She met the Queen at Balmoral Castle in Scotland for almost an hour Tuesday for the transfer of power from Boris Johnson. The new prime minister is the 15th of her reign, with the first, Winston Churchill, born in 1874 - 101 years before Truss.

The arrival back in London of Britain’s third female prime minister was delayed due to fierce rain and storms sweeping across the south of England. Hundreds of supporters and colleagues were soaked to the bone outside Downing Street as they waited for her to arrive.

Truss, a self-proclaimed small-state Conservative, is drawing up a two-year energy relief package that could top £100 billion. It is intended to shield households and businesses from soaring bills.

She acknowledged that the UK was facing severe “global headwinds” that she said had been caused by Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, alongside the aftermath of the coronavirus pandemic. However, Truss said that she remained confident that the country could survive and thrive despite the challenges.

“We shouldn’t be daunted by the challenges we face,” she said. “As strong as this storm may be, I know that the British people are stronger. Our country was built by people who get things done.

“We have huge reserves of talents of energy and determination I am confident that together we can ride out the storm. We can rebuild our economy, and we can become the modern, brilliant Britain that I know we can be.”

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Truss is expected to link the energy package to long-term market reforms and a commitment to increase oil and gas production, along with fracking for shale gas if local communities approve.

Earlier, Johnson made a defiant farewell speech, claiming he had delivered Brexit, a successful COVID-19 vaccine rollout and a series of infrastructure projects — although few have actually been built.

He offered no apologies for his role in a series of scandals, including ‘Partygate’ during pandemic lockdowns, which led to his downfall following a mass mutiny among his ministerial colleagues.

He dropped a classical hint that he might yet make a comeback.

“Like Cincinnatus, I am returning to my plough and will be offering this government nothing but the most fervent support,” he said. Historians pointed out that Cincinnatus later returned to Rome as ruler.

He and his wife, Carrie, later spent almost 40 minutes with the Queen, as she accepted his resignation.

Buckingham Palace said: “The Right Honourable Boris Johnson MP had an audience of the Queen this morning and tendered his resignation as prime minister and first lord of the Treasury, which Her Majesty was graciously pleased to accept.”

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