Tony Blair reshuffled his cabinet last night, keeping his most senior ministers in place, switching several mid-rank positions and rewarding key loyalists in the wake of the British Labour Party's general election victory.
He brought David Blunkett back from the wilderness to the position of secretary for work and pensions. The former home secretary resigned last December when complications with his private life overwhelmed his political career. Mr Blair has made benefit reform a priority for his third term and will be looking to Mr Blunkett to deliver.
Another key post, that of Northern Ireland secretary, went surprisingly to Peter Hain. The new minister for Europe is Douglas Alexander.
But Gordon Brown, Charles Clarke and Jack Straw all retained their top positions as, respectively, chancellor of the exchequer, home secretary and foreign secretary.
David Miliband, a key Blair loyalist and ideologue, was appointed minister of communities and local government. Ruth Kelly, another minister close to Mr Blair, retained her education portfolio.
Geoff Hoon, criticised over the state of military equipment in the Iraq war, was moved from defence to become leader of the House of Commons. His job was taken by John Reid.
With 642 of the 646 Commons seats filled last night, Labour had secured 355 on 36.2 per cent of the popular vote, down 47 MPs on the 2001 general election. The Conservative Party, whose leader Michael Howard announced he was retiring, won 197 seats with 33.2 per cent of the vote, a gain of 31 seats.
The Liberal Democrats, who were hoping for a substantial breakthrough, won 62 seats with 22.5 per cent of the vote, a gain of 10.