A reshuffle of Boris Johnson’s cabinet is under way. Here’s what we know so far of who is in and out of key positions.

Department for Education

Out: Gavin Williamson
In: to be confirmed

Gavin Williamson’s demotion from education secretary was so well heralded that the main surprise of Tuesday’s news is that it took so long.

In the job since 2019, Williamson has in effect served as a political shield for Boris Johnson over Covid-related failures in schools and university, most notably the fiasco over A-levels in 2020 when Williamson and his department ignored months of warnings about issues with an algorithm to award grades in the absence of exams, only to change tack amid outrage at the perceived unfairness of the results.

Since then, predictions of his demotion or removal had come almost weekly, and it was assumed by many he was largely kept in post to usher through another set of disrupted summer exams.

The MP for South Staffordshire since 2010, Williamson has managed to combine a series of high-profile roles and high-level political patronage with a somewhat blundering public image, cemented by his confident assertion in an interview last week that he had met the footballer Marcus Rashford, only for it to emerge that it had been another black sportsperson, the rugby player Maro Itoje.

Williamson’s ascent began under Theresa May, who made him chief whip in 2016. He embraced the dark arts elements of the role with gusto, very publicly keeping a live tarantula on his desk. He was seen as a highly effective chief whip, someone who understood the political manoeuvrings over the Tory party, and was promoted by May in 2017 to become defence secretary.

This role seemed less of a good fit for Williamson – he was widely mocked for saying Russia should “go away and shut up” – and it came to a sudden and crashing end when May sacked him for leaking national security council discussions about Huawei’s involvement in the UK’s 5G network, which he denied.

This would be enough to permanently sink most careers, but Williamson was an integral member of Johnson’s campaign to succeed May as Tory leader, and was rewarded with being made education secretary.

It is fair to say that in the role Williamson has not notably impressed the education sector, even before the exams debacle. Now it – and Williamson – must wait to see what comes next.

Ministry of Justice

Out: Robert Buckland
In: to be confirmed

Robert Buckland has revealed that he has been sacked as justice secretary, tweeting: “I am deeply proud of everything I have achieved. On to the next adventure.” He is widely believed at Westminster to have been moved aside to allow Dominic Raab to take the post.

A former remain campaigner, Buckland always appeared an unlikely member of a Johnson cabinet, but the South Swindon MP had won the respect of the judiciary during his two years in the post.

He recently oversaw a review of the process of judicial review, the findings of which were perhaps more balanced than some in No 10 might have liked to see, and is also believed to have been sceptical about Johnson’s decision to increase national insurance contributions to pay for health and social care.

Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government

Out: Robert Jenrick
In: to be confirmed

Robert Jenrick, the communities and housing secretary throughout the Johnson era up to now, had previously clung to his post despite controversies that would have sunk many ministers in earlier eras.

The most notable of these came after it emerged Jenrick had sat next to the former newspaper magnate Richard Desmond at a Conservative fundraising event and that Desmond had showed him a PR video for the 44-storey block of flats he was developing in east London.

Two months later, Jenrick overruled the local council and the government’s Planning Inspectorate to approve the GBP1bn development. He did this the day before a community levy would have come into force, providing GBP45m for the council, Tower Hamlets, to spend on local infrastructure. The council challenged the decision in court and Jenrick backed down, conceding a potential for bias.

Jenrick, who has represented Newark in Nottinghamshire since winning a byelection in 2014, has faced some criticism for his local ties. The former solicitor owns two properties in London, as well as Eye Manor, a Grade I-listed home in Herefordshire, and local people have complained they do not see him as much as they would like.