John Culatto
GIBRALTAR’S Chief Minister Fabian Picardo said he is ‘delighted’ that Dominic Raab is the new Deputy Prime Minister and James Cleverly will stay on as UK Foreign Secretary.
New Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced the roles after getting his royal assent from Charles III on Tuesday.
Picardo has worked with both Conservative politicians over the last few years to come up with a favourable post-Brexit deal for the Rock.
“I’m delighted to note the return of Dominic Raab, a historic friend of Gibraltar,” Picardo said.
Raab is the more experienced in high level politics, having taken on Cabinet roles since 2015.
After a stint overseeing human rights, he became Brexit Secretary under Prime Minister Theresa May in 2018.
He then became Foreign Secretary from 2019 to 2021.
“I am particularly happy also that James Cleverly has been kept in his post as Foreign Secretary, a testament to the excellent work he has done in the time he has been in post.”
He credited his effort ‘in relation to Gibraltar and our important, ongoing, negotiations with the European Union’.
Cleverly broke into the Cabinet for the first time as minister for Europe and North America in February 2022.
He then took up the post as Foreign Secretary in Lizz Truss’s ill-fated Cabinet, a role he will now continue.
“Both Mr Raab and Mr Cleverly are individuals with whom I have enjoyed working in the past in their time in the British Cabinet,” Picardo said.
“I have written to both Mr Cleverly and Mr Raab to congratulate them on their appointments and to highlight how useful it is to have them now in posts that will be relevant to Gibraltar.”
ALSO READ:
- GP prescription cutdown will not affect essential medicine, Gibraltar health chief says
- Gibraltar not the source of delay to driving licence negotiations, says British ambassador
- Gibraltar leader welcomes Rishi Sunak as Prime Minister asking for help on EU treaty talks
