MONMOUTH MP David Davies has been appointed as secretary of state for Wales.

The Gwent representative was appointed to the role by new prime minister Rishi Sunak as Mr Sunak named his cabinet on Tuesday.

Mr Davies supported Mr Sunak in this leadership election, having previously backed Liz Truss in September.

Upon the announcement that Mr Sunak would become prime minister, Mr Davies said: “Congratulations to Rishi Sunak on becoming the new leader of our party and our next prime minister.

“We have a duty to the British people. Now is the time for unity and I urge all colleagues to give their full backing to Rishi.”

Mr Davies was appointed parliamentary under secretary of state at the Wales Office in December 2019.

Amid the flurry of resignations which triggered the end of Boris Johnson’s premiership, he did not join calls for Mr Johnson to step down as prime minister, but said after Mr Johnson announced his intention to resign that it was the correct decision.

“You can’t do the job if you don’t have the support of your ministers and cabinet ministers - it’s absolutely unsustainable,” he said.

After Simon Hart’s resignation, Mr Davies tweeted: “It has been a privilege to work for Simon who did a great job as secretary of state for Wales.

“We should not be in the position of losing decent and hardworking Ministers. I made clear last night that I will not take the role.”

Sir Robert Buckland, MP for Swindon South, took over from Mr Hart, but resigned on Tuesday afternoon.