Under both Boris Johnson and Theresa May, Steve Barclay has proved to be one of those ministers who are rarely lauded but nonetheless greatly valued by a prime minister: hard-working, loyal – and most of all, largely uncomplaining.
Barclay, an MP since 2010, took on a series of junior frontbench roles before May made him Brexit secretary in 2018 after David Davis resigned in protest at her planned EU departure deal.
It was a job he kept even when Johnson took over, with his very different view of Brexit, a sign of Barclay’s adaptability.
The end of the Brexit ministerial brief with the UK’s eventual departure from the orbit of the EU in January 2020 saw Barclay accept a demotion to being No 2 in the Treasury, before moving back to the cabinet 18 months later as Cabinet Office minister.
In February this year, a reshuffle after a string of controversies and mishaps showed the value Johnson and his team place on the former solicitor from Lancashire. Barclay was made the PM’s chief of staff, with the cabinet role of chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster.
That job has not gone to plan, given the plan was to stabilise Johnson’s operation with some “grownups” in charge. That was not, however, necessarily Barclay’s fault, and he has been rewarded with an even bigger job – secretary of state for health.