Housing minister merry-go-round continues
Dominic Raab, who took over from Alok Sharma as housing minister in January, has now moved out of the post in order to take on the Brexit Secretary brief, vacated by David Davis who resigned yesterday.
Housing minister incumbents are notoriously transient; Raab was the sixteenth person to hold the position in just 20 years. Prior to Sharma, the post was held by Gavin Barwell, a minister who was generally well-liked in the housing sector and who rapidly gained knowledge of the intricacies of housing policy. While he was in the post for 18 months, his tenure ended when he lost his seat in the June 2017 General Election.
The housing minister reports to the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities & Local Government, a position currently occupied by James Brokenshire, who took over from Sajid Javid after a cabinet reshuffle in May.
Place North West met with Raab at the CIH Housing conference in Manchester at the end of June, where Raab spoke well and in detail on housing matters, bringing his previous experience as a lawyer and diplomat to bear on weighty issues concerning the sector such as the aftermath of the Grenfell tragedy. While his diplomacy experience will no doubt stand him in good stead in the Brexit department, housing is left once again to fall through the gap between ever-changing ministers.
The Government is yet to announce who will now replace Raab.
