More ministerial change at BEIS

New energy minister moves in to replace Jesse Norman

Former energy minister Jesse Norman has been replaced at the BEIS department by Richard Harrington.

The government announced yesterday that Norman, who had filled the energy portfolio at the BEIS (business, energy and industrial strategy) department since it was established by Theresa May last summer, has switched roles.

In a sideways move, he has been appointed parliamentary under-secretary of state at the Department for Transport.

Harrington, who was pensions minister in the last parliament, has taken Norman’s role as junior minister at BEIS.

However, a BEIS spokesman said the exact division of portfolios within the department had yet to be agreed.

59-year old Harrington was elected as MP for Watford in 2010, retaking the seat for the Conservatives from Labour. Born and raised in Leeds, he took a law degree at Oxford University.

He started his career at the John Lewis Partnership and went onto set up and run a company that developed and managed holiday resorts.

While Greg Clark has remained secretary of state at BEIS, Nick Hurd has been replaced as climate change minister of state by Claire Perry in Theresa May’s post-election reshuffle, which has seen a greater turnover at the junior ministerial level than at Cabinet level.