Cabinet Gets First Black Member in Reshuffle
BRITAIN
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Prime Minister Tony Blair chose Alistair Darling to run Britain’s ramshackle transportation system in a reshuffle that also saw the appointment of the country’s first black Cabinet minister.
Darling took the job a day after Stephen Byers quit. Byers said his poor reputation and nickname “liar Byers” hurt the government.
Darling, who held the Work and Pensions portfolio, takes on what one minister recently called “the worst rail network in Europe.”
Andrew Smith, who held the No. 2 spot at the Treasury, takes over Darling’s old post, and he in turn is replaced by the first black Cabinet minister, Paul Boateng.
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