Lincoln MP appointed as junior minister by PM

The new MP for Lincoln, Hamish Falconer, has been made a junior minister in the Foreign Office.

Mr Falconer, who was elected Labour MP for Lincoln on 4 July, was appointed to the role by Sir Keir Starmer.

He previously served as a diplomat and is the son of Charlie Falconer, who was Lord Chancellor in Tony Blair's Labour government.

When previously asked by the BBC if he was hoping to get a junior role in government, he said: "I am here to serve Lincoln".

Martin McCluskey and Kate Dearden have been made assistant government whips.

Mr McCluskey, a former adviser to Ed Miliband when he was Labour leader, was elected MP for Inverclyde and Renfrewshire West.

Ms Dearden, a former chair of Labour Students, became MP for Halifax at the general election and previously worked for the Community Union.

Sir Keir made two other appointments on Thursday, making Baroness Jenny Chapman another junior Foreign Office minister and MP Mary Creagh a minister in the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

Baroness Chapman, the former MP for Darlington, chaired Sir Keir's successful campaign for the Labour leadership in 2020 and later served as his political secretary.

Ms Creagh served in Mr Miliband's shadow cabinet and later chaired the Commons Environmental Audit Committee before losing her Wakefield seat in 2019.

She returned to Parliament this month as MP for Coventry East.

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