David Gauke has been appointed as the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions following Prime Minister Theresa May’s post-election Cabinet reshuffle.

Gauke, who has been the MP for Hertfordshire South West since 2005, replaces Damien Green who has been given the role of First Secretary of State and Minister for the Cabinet Office.

Previously, Gauke has served as Chief Secretary to the Treasury from July 2016 to June 2017, and, prior to that he served as Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury and Financial Secretary to the Treasury.

Gauke was born in 1971 and educated at Northgate High School in Ipswich. He then read law at St Edmund Hall, Oxford University. After a year working as a parliamentary researcher, he attended Chester College of Law before becoming a trainee solicitor. After qualifying as a solicitor in 1997, he worked for a leading City firm.

Commenting on his appointment, former Pensions Minister and now Royal London director of policy Steve Webb said: “There are few ministers who could have been appointed to this role who know as much about pensions as David Gauke.

"In his five years at the Treasury during the Coalition he played a key role in developing the detail of the pension freedoms and was a keen supporter of automatic enrolment. I always found him to be knowledgeable and willing to engage in discussion and debate. However, as Secretary of State at the DWP there will be many other issues to take up his time, including welfare reform, disability benefits and employment policy.

"The lack of an outright Conservative majority means radical reform in any area will be hard to get through Parliament, but we may see sensible incremental changes as a result of the review of automatic enrolment. As a former Chief Secretary to the Treasury he will be used to focusing on keeping spending under control, but political pressures may mean savings on the triple lock and on winter fuel payments have to be kicked into the long grass”.

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