First-time MPs made ministers as London dominates front bench

THREE first-time London MPs have been appointed ministers as at least 21 of the capital’s newly elected Labour politicians sit on the government front bench.

- Rachael Burford

Sir Keir Starmer selected Sarah Sackman as Solicitor General less than a week after she won Finchley and Golders Green from the Tories.

Queen’s Park and Maida Vale MP Georgia Gould and Peckham MP Miatta Fahnbulleh were also elevated to junior minister roles in the Cabinet Office and Energy Department respectively.

It is extremely unusual for MPs with no previous experience in Parliament to immediately be given government jobs, but the new Prime Minister boosted five straight into his frontbench.

Former Royal Marine Colonel Alistair Carns, the MP for Birmingham Selly Oak, became minister for veterans, and Midlothian MP Kirsty McNeill, a charity executive and former adviser to Gordon Brown, is now also a junior minister in the Scotland Office.