May Reshuffle: Will Half Cabinet Be Women?

Theresa May is expected to appoint a record number of women to senior Government positions as she reshuffles her Cabinet.

It has been suggested it could put the number of women in Cabinet from a third to half as she launches her premiership later today.

Among those touted to land big jobs are Amber Rudd, the Energy Secretary, who campaigned for Remain, Employment Minister and Brexiter Priti Patel and International Development Secretary Justine Greening.

In 2015, seven of David Cameron's 22-strong Cabinet were women - the record is Tony Blair's eight.

Mrs May has been lauded for her work to recruit women MPs to the Conservative Party.

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Sky's Political Editor Faisal Islam said: "One in three Cabinet members are women right now.

"It looks like she's going to try to push that up to half - that would be five more Cabinet ministers who are women.

"This would suggest more than just a reshuffle, but a reconfiguration of the Cabinet."

One of the first appointments is expected to be a secretary of state for the so-called Brexit department.

Mrs May's spokesperson saying she is committed to getting on with "delivering the verdict of the EU referendum" and she has pledged "Brexit should mean Brexit".

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Both current Leader of the House of Commons Chris Grayling and former defence secretary Liam Fox, who both campaigned for Leave, have been tipped for the Brexit job.

Skills minister Nick Boles has already announced he will no longer be skills minister and will return to the backbenches - he was campaign manager for Boris Johnson and later Michael Gove.

He was forced to apologise ahead of the second round of Conservative leadership voting for sending a text to May supporters urging them to lend a vote to Mr Gove to scupper the hopes of Andrea Leadsom.

Mrs May will begin making her appointments on Wednesday evening after seeing the Queen, where she will be invited to become Prime Minister.

Earlier, Mr Cameron delivered his last Prime Minister's Questions taunting Labour over the Tories' 2-0 victory on women prime ministers.

But he repeatedly warned Mrs May it was vital in Brexit negotiations the UK should get access to the Single Market.

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Mrs May will attempt to unify the party by offering major roles to colleagues who campaigned on both sides of the EU referendum.

The move to accommodate more eurosceptics could spell the end of some current Cabinet careers, while considerably changing the course of others.

Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond could be in line for a job swap with Chancellor George Osborne.

It remains to be seen if there will be a role for Boris Johnson, or whether Michael Gove will retain his place as Justice Secretary.