Senior Conservative Michael Gove has been appointed Environment Secretary in Theresa May’s cabinet reshuffle, details of which were announced on Sunday.

The reshuffle follows last week’s snap election results, which saw the Tories lose their Parliamentary majority to a resurgent Labour Party, resulting in a hung Parliament. Although on Friday, PM Theresa May gained the Queen’s permission to form a minority government, strongly suggesting the Tories would join with Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party, over the weekend the DUP said the PM’s announcement of a deal was premature, and May has faced harsh criticism from dissenting MPs within her own party.  

Michael Gove - a prominent ‘Leave’ campaigner ahead of last year’s Brexit referendum - went without a cabinet position in the wake of the Leave result. Gove, who had previously backed fellow Leave campaigner Boris Johnson’s leadership bid, ran for leadership of the Conservative party himself after former leader David Cameron resigned in response to the UK’s vote to leave the EU.

Mr Gove replaced Andrea Leadsom at Defra to become the third Conservative Environment Secretary in less than a year; Leadsom has been moved to Leader of the Commons in the reshuffle. He was formerly Secretary of State for Education between 2010 and 2014, then Chief Whip before being appointed as Justice Secretary from 2015 until last year’s Brexit vote. During his time as Education Secretary, three teaching unions passed votes of no confidence in his policies during their annual conferences.

Mr Gove’s voting record reveals he has opposed measures to bring down polluting emissions and as Education Secretary he attempted to remove climate change from the geography national curriculum.