Greg Hands has been sacked as chairman of the Conservative Party, as Rishi Sunak conducted a major cabinet reshuffle ahead of next year’s election.
He has finally paid the price for a succession of humiliating by-election defeats.
Richard Holden, who was only elected as an MP in 2019, has been given a big promotion to take over the job of running the Tory party machine.
Less than a month ago, Hands said he would not quit in the wake of two heavy by-election defeats in Mid Bedfordshire and Tamworth.
At the time, he said the losses were caused “by legacy issues” that predated Sunak’s time in No.10.
Hands remains in government, but has been demoted to a minister of state job at the department for business and trade.
Holden snatched the red wall seat of North West Durham for the Tories in 2019, but the constituency is disappearing due to boundary changes and he is now on the lookout for somewhere else to stand at the next election.
Holden was appointed transport minister when Sunak became prime minister last October.
He now has the extremely difficult job of helping the prime minister overhaul a huge Labour poll lead over the next 12 months.
Leaving No.10 on Monday afternoon, Holden gave a thumbs-up when asked if the Tories could win the election.
As part of his reshuffle, Sunak also dramatically brought David Cameron back into government as foreign secretary.
Suella Braverman has been sacked as home secretary, replaced by James Cleverly.
Meanwhile, Therese Coffey has also been sacked as environment secretary, with Steve Barclay replacing her.
He has been replaced as health secretary by Victoria Atkins, with Laura Trott also being appointed chief secretary to the Treasury as the reshuffle continued.