Today may be final day in office for current housing minister Kit Malthouse

This may be the final full day in office for Kit Malthouse, the latest politician to occupy the short-term position of housing minister.

Malthouse was appointed on July 9 last year, meaning he will have been 54 weeks in the post – a relatively brief time but by no means the shortest in the spectacularly volatile history of the position.

With the naming today of a new Prime Minister, who will then assume office after Theresa May resigns tomorrow afternoon, it may be that a new housing minister – if it remains a junior post – will be named as soon as Wednesday evening.

Malthouse was deputy mayor for business and enterprise in London during the period of time that Boris Johnson was mayor; Malthouse had a brief campaign during the early summer to become Conservative party leader himself, but since pulling out of the race he has been a vocal supporter of Johnson.

If the leadership election goes Johnson’s way, as is widely expected, Malthouse may receive some form of promotion.

Some media speculation over the weekend linked Michael Gove – currently Environment Secretary and a long-time rival of Johnson – with the post of Secretary of State at a beefed-up Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government.

This is the post currently held by James Brokenshire who – along with Heather Wheeler MP, junior minister at the same department – has done most of the political ‘heavy lifting’ in terms of reforming leasehold, introducing the Tenant Fees Ban, proposing the scrapping of Section 21 and presiding over the announcement of far-reaching recommendations from the Regulation of Property Agents working group last week.

Malthouse has confined his activities most to policies relating to the new-build industry.

For the record, here’s the list of housing ministers since 1997. Who knows how long the next one may last…:
  • Hilary Armstrong (1997-1999);
  • Nick Raynsford (1999-2001);
  • Charlie Falconer (2001-2001);
  • Jeff Rooker (2001-2003);
  • Keith Hill (2003-2005);
  • Yvette Cooper (2005-2007);
  • Caroline Flint (2007-2008);
  • Margaret Beckett (2008-2009);
  • John Healey (2009-2010);
  • Grant Shapps (2010-2012);
  • Mark Prisk (2012-2013);
  • Kris Hopkins (2013-2014);
  • Brandon Lewis (2014-2016);
  • Gavin Barwell (2016-2017);
  • Alok Sharma (2017-2018);
  • Dominic Raab (2018);
  • Kit Malthouse (2018-2019)

 

Kindly shared by Estate Agent Today