Kwasi Kwarteng has been appointed as UK business secretary, taking over from Alok Sharma, who will focus full-time on his role as president of the UN COP26 global climate talks in Glasgow this year.
The high-profile conference, which is seen as an opportunity for Prime Minister Boris Johnson to project a post Brexit “global Britain”, will attempt to forge agreement on new international targets for carbon emission reductions, building on previous commitments at the Paris meeting in 2016.
Mr Sharma will be based in the Cabinet Office and continue as a full member of cabinet. He will chair the climate action implementation committee to co-ordinate government action towards the UK’s target of net zero carbon emissions by 2050.
Critics had argued that Mr Sharma would struggle to fulfil the COP26 role while he was business secretary, not least because it will involve large amounts of international travel in the run-up to the Glasgow event.
Mr Sharma was not Mr…