Changes to the DEFRA team

Following Gordon Brown's Cabinet reshuffle last week which saw Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Hilary Benn remain in DEFRA, it is understood that Food and Farming Minister Jeff Rooker who has retired from Government has gone in addition to Phil Woolas, Jonathan Shaw and Joan Ruddock. The DEFRA website confirms former Financial Secretary Jane Kennedy and Lord Hunt of Kings Heath as Ministers of State, with former junior Welsh Minister Huw Irranca-Davies as the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State. Confirmation of the new ministers' portfolios is awaited as well as further detail of the new Department for Energy and Climate Change which is headed up by Ed Miliband. It is expected that an announcement will be made either later today or tomorrow.