Reshuffle: Who Is in Theresa May's New British Government?

Updated | Britain's new prime minister Theresa May has wasted no time in appointing her first cabinet. She entered her official residence at 10 Downing Street shortly after 6 p.m. Wednesday, with the first appointment coming an hour later.

Here's Newsweek's need-to-know guide to the key appointments.

Chancellor: Philip Hammond

Hammond has been foreign secretary since 2014, previously serving as defense secretary. A quiet, unflashy politician, he earned respect for his calm handling of controversial cuts to the military in the early part of the last parliament.

He was also a significant backer of May's leadership campaign and, like her, was a "Remain" campaigner in Britain's EU referendum, but not the most fervent one. May has promised to create a new, separate cabinet role to handle "Brexit" negotiations, but Hammond will still need to prove to Euroskeptics that he can be tough with the U.K.'s European partners, and to nervous markets that he can handle Britain's newfound economic turbulence.

Foreign Secretary: Boris Johnson

Few people foresaw the blustering ex-London mayor and lead Brexit campaigner getting such a senior role. Johnson and May have never been close—she humiliated him in 2015 by denying his request to arm London's police with water cannon. The pair were then pitched against each other in the EU referendum campaign and, briefly, in the Conservative leadership contest.

But with this appointment, May is sending a signal to Britain's Brexit voters that she is serious about leaving the EU. And she's granted a gift to Britain's diplomatic press corps: Johnson is known for his colorful (and often stage-managed) gaffes.

Home Secretary: Amber Rudd

May has long been committed to promoting women within the party, and Rudd, a key supporter of May's who impressed journalists while arguing the case for "Remain" during EU referendum TV debates, was hotly tipped for promotion from energy secretary.

Before that, in the coalition government of 2010-15, she worked as a junior minister under the Liberal Democrats Energy Secretary Ed Davey, who usually has nothing but contemptuous words for his former Tory colleagues but sung her praises to me in an interview in 2015 for her intelligence and ability to grasp a brief in detail. May clearly has faith she can bring those qualities to a job traditionally regarded as one of the most difficult in British politics.

Defense Secretary: Michael Fallon

Fallon has stayed in the role he's filled since 2014. He's been seen as quiet but competent, and May evidently saw no reason to fix what isn't broken.

Minister for Brexit: David Davis

This is a new post, officially titled "secretary of state for exiting the European Union." Davis, an intelligent and charismatic figure from the party's right, spent the entirety of David Cameron's premiership exiled to the backbenches; Cameron confounded the expectations of many by beating Davis to the job of party leader in 2005.

David was one of Britain's most committed Brexiters, both during the campaign and for years beforehand, and his appointment, like Johnson's, is a clear statement of intent in favor of Britain leaving the EU, and on bullish terms. Like most intelligent Brexiters, Davis is frighteningly knowledgeable about the intricacies of the EU, but his appointment will not go down so well in Brussels.

International Trade Secretary: Liam Fox

Another new post, it's not yet clear exactly how the role will work. But negotiating new trade deals—a function until now performed for Britain largely by the EU—will be crucial to the U.K.'s future outside the bloc. Sajid Javid, the business secretary, has begun recruiting staff for the task, but Fox will need to turbocharge it.

Fox, who has twice unsuccessfully run for the party leadership, resigned from his job as defense secretary in 2011 over an improper professional relationship with his friend and self-styled adviser Adam Werritty. His return to government follows his prominent role in the anti-EU campaign.

Sacked: George Osborne

Osborne, who as chancellor for the past six years was an integral part of David Cameron 's administration, has resigned from government, and it is understood he was sacked.

There was some speculation May would want to keep Osborne, whose record in his role has been fairly strong. But the pair have often clashed, particularly over immigration policy, and Osborne was an enthusiastic campaigner for the unsuccessful "Remain" campaign. It seems he simply had to go.

Announced on July 14:

Justice Secretary and Lord Chancellor: Liz Truss

As environment secretary, her job since 2014, Truss's first high-profile moment was a much-mocked speech at the 2014 party conference where she brightly spoke of how "we are selling tea to China! Yorkshire tea!" Behind the scenes, Truss, first elected in 2010, is one of the rising stars of the Tory right, co-authoring the Britannia Unchained pamphlet in 2012 with other MPs Dominic Raab and Priti Patel, who would go on to be top Brexit campaigners. It lamented: "Whereas Indian children aspire to be doctors or businessmen, the British are more interested in football and pop music."

Education Secretary and Minister for Women and Equalities: Justine Greening

State-educated Greening has worked as international development secretary since 2012. Education is an area where May's views differ substantially from her predecessor's (the new prime minister is a fan of grammar schools) but it remains to be seen whether she'll task Greening with reversing the role's previous incumbent Nicky Morgan's work in this way. Greening came out to the public as gay during London's Pride march this summer, and many in the LGBT community might be happier with her in the women and equalities role than they were with Morgan, who voted against gay marriage.

Health Secretary: Jeremy Hunt

No change here, despite rumours that Hunt would be moved. A supporter of May's, it would have been surprising to see Hunt fired. Hunt's time in the role has been controversial, with an ongoing and very nasty industrial dispute with junior doctors dominating headlines. But it hasn't damaged Hunt's political standing.

Communities and Local Government Secretary: Sajid Javid

One of British politics' few libertarians (Javid wooed his wife at university by reading to her from Ayn Rand's The Fountainhead) Javid was previously the business secretary and is in favor of shrinking the state. In his new role, the most obvious application for that ideology would be deregulating planning, which some people think could be key to solving Britain's housing crisis. That will be an interesting area to watch.

Work and Pensions Secretary: Damian Green

Green held several ministerial roles under Cameron but never intended cabinet. An old friend of May's from Oxford, he has clearly benefited from the change at the top. He served under May as a minister for policing and crime in 2012-14.

Transport Secretary: Chris Grayling

Grayling ran May's short-lived leadership campaign, and has seemingly been rewarded with a promotion from his old role as Leader of the House. Grayling had been named as a potential candidate for the Brexit minister role, and after the departure of Michael Gove some had also wondered whether he might be reinstated as justice secretary, a job he held before 2014. Clearly what the papers say is true: May really doesn't promise top jobs in return for support.

Environment Secretary: Andrea Leadsom

Leadsom has been rewarded for standing down in the leadership contest, where she and May were the top contenders, with her first cabinet role. The EU affects farming policy in significant ways, something which falls within her new brief, so what has traditionally been a quiet role may become trickier in the coming years. May had better hope that Leadsom doesn't make any slip-ups in interviews, as she said she did after The Times reported her as saying she'd make a better prime minister than May because she had children.

Business Secretary: Greg Clark

Formerly at Communities and Local Government, Clark is committed to the "Northern Powerhouse" devolution agenda introduced under former Chancellor George Osborne, and as such will be useful for May's vision of boosting prosperity across the country. Calm and competent, he'll need all his patience and negotiating skills if May plans to bring to bear the full regulatory agenda she teased in her leadership launch speech, including worker representatives on company boards. According to the announcement, Clark has "energy" as part of his brief, which suggests the Department of Energy and Climate Change is being closed down.

Northern Ireland Secretary: James Brokenshire

As immigration minister from 2014, Brokenshire has shown a dogged ability to tackle tough questions, landed with a brief that was always difficult but became near-impossible under Cameron, whose target of reducing net migration to the "tens of thousands" was almost certainly unachievable inside the EU. His new role will see him helping to steer Northern Ireland, which voted to remain in the EU, through a potentially turbulent Brexit that will involve border negotiations with the republic.

International Development Secretary: Priti Patel

Patel, a slash and burn free market Tory and a Brexit campaigner, is another star of the young Tory right to see a promotion. Much is being made on Twitter of an interview she gave to The Sunday Telegraph in 2013, where she said the department she now runs should be scrapped in favor of one focused more on trading with and investing in the developing world.

Culture Secretary: Karen Bradley

A former Home Office minister, Bradley joins Damian Green and James Brokenshire as a third current or former junior minister who worked for May in her old job to join her new cabinet. Bradley has always given competent performances at the dispatch box, and it will be interesting to see what she does with this wide-ranging and sometimes challenging role.

Leader of the House of Commons and Lord President of the Council: David Lidington

Lidington replaces Chris Grayling as leader of the House of Commons. He has been the MP for Aylesbury since 1992 and the minister of state for Europe since 2010, making him the longest-serving Europe minister in British history. In May 2009, The Daily Telegraph revealed Lidington had claimed nearly £1,300 for his dry cleaning and had also claimed for toothpaste, shower gel, body spray and vitamin supplements on his second home allowance. Lidington decided to repay the claims for the toiletries, saying: "I accept that many people would see them as over-generous."

Scottish Secretary: David Mundell

Mundell, the only Tory MP in Scotland, is the unsackable man. He could march into parliament naked playing the bagpipes and probably still have a 50/50 chance of keeping his job.

Welsh Secretary: Alun Cairns

Cairns remains in place.

Chief Whip: Gavin Williamson

Williamson was made Parliamentary private secretary to David Cameron in 2013, and was present at Cameron's farewell dinner on Tuesday night. His appointment proves May is not committed to ridding the cabinet of all Cameron loyalists, and his links across the party may help him in his new role.

Party Chairman: Patrick McCloughlin

McCloughlin, who served as transport secretary under Cameron, is popular in his old department, and many will be sad to see him go. Considered the ultimate safe pair of hands—it's a rare journalist that could tease a controversial comment from him—May presumably thinks he'll help keep order in what could be a tumultuous time for the party.

Leader of the House of Lords: Natalie Evans

Evans has been in the Lords for less than two years, but used to work for Cameron's favorite think-tank Policy Exchange, and the New Schools Network.

Sacked: Michael Gove

Westminster's own Brutus, who stabbed Johnson in the back by running against him for the leadership, has paid the price for his treachery. Getting rid of the slippery Brexit campaigner, who has been justice secretary since 2015, makes political sense.

But in policy terms, many in the justice sector had a lot of time for Gove, whose liberal reforms were focused on boosting rehabilitation for offenders.

Sacked: John Whittingdale

Whittingdale has served as culture secretary since just after the 2015 general election. As someone unusually interested in the intricacies of media policy, he was thrilled to have the job.

Less thrilled were high-ups at the BBC; Whittingdale was a committed skeptic of public broadcasting, and his appointment marked a newly tough approach toward the broadcaster by the government. He was also a strident Brexit campaigner.

Sacked: Nicky Morgan

Morgan took over from Gove as education secretary in 2014, and continued his project of schools reform, pushing more schools to become independent "academies" or "free schools." May is a high-profile supporter of grammar schools, so that could be behind the sacking. If she does plan an education policy change of that magnitude, she will have a colossal fight on her hands from an education sector already thoroughly sick of top-down change.

Sacked: Stephen Crabb

Crabb was considered a rising star when he took a promotion to work and pensions secretary earlier this year following the resignation of Iain Duncan Smith. But just a few short months, a failed leadership campaign and a minor sexting scandal later (he was caught sending naughty Whatsapps by The Times) Crabb is out of government, at least for now. He said it was "in the best interests of my family" if he left his job.

Sacked: Theresa Villiers

Villiers was Northern Ireland secretary until Thursday, when she said May offered her an alternative role that she felt unable to take. "Northern Ireland and its people will always have a very special place in my heart and I am confident that progress will continue to be made to embed peace, stability and prosperity there," she said in a Facebook post.

This is a developing story and will be updated as more information becomes available.