Challenges await Alok Sharma as business minister

IN a surprise move on Thursday (13), the UK prime minister Boris Johnson appointed Alok Sharma as his new business minister replacing business secretary Andrea Leadsom.

The latest elevation of Sharma and the cabinet reshuffle by Johnson reflects the UK government’s new priorities as it strives to reshape its relationship with the rest of the globe after Brexit.

Sharma, 52, was also appointed as the minister in charge of the UK’s COP26 climate change summit.

He was previously secretary of state for international development.

With the latest appointment, Sharma will preside over the UN climate talks in November, known as Cop26, filling a leadership void.

Sharma will replace ousted Cop26 president Claire O’Neill, who was appointed in July last year but was abruptly sacked at the end of last month. The position had been vacant for nearly 14 days.

In a major step to ensure sustainable development in Africa, Sharma who in his previous role was at the UK-Africa summit, announced that the UK will partner with Egypt, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya and Uganda to design a new facility to support finance to a range of environmentally-friendly infrastructure projects.

Around £2 billion in energy deals were agreed at the meet, but it has been revealed that 90 per cent were for fossil fuels.

Sharma has held various roles, becoming the prime minister’s infrastructure envoy to India in 2016 and a minister for housing the next year.

He was previously secretary of state for international development from July 2019 to February 2020, and minister of state for employment at the department of work and pensions from January 2018 until July 2019.

As an employment minister, Sharma had said he was committed to helping more people from black, Asian and minorities (BAME) background get jobs as he hosted a meeting to understand the challenges facing some ethnic minorities.

Sharma noted once that while the employment rate is high among BAME, he was “personally dedicated to pushing progress forward”.

He was minister of state for housing and planning for the department for communities and local government from June 2017 to January 2018.

One of the major challenges Sharma faced in his political career was the fire that destroyed Grenfell Tower with the loss of 72 lives, which confronted him hours after his appointment as minister for housing and planning.

Sharma also served as a parliamentary under secretary of state at the foreign and commonwealth office during July 2016 to June 2017.

Further, he also served as a member of the Commons Treasury select committee, a member of the Commons Science and Technology select committee, and a parliamentary private secretary at the Treasury

Sharma who has his roots in Asia served as a Conservative Party vice-chairman from 2012 to 2015.

He was elected as the Conservative MP for Reading West in May 2010.

Prior to entering politics, Sharma qualified as a chartered accountant with Coopers & Lybrand Deloitte, and then worked for 16 years within banking.

He started his career first with the Japanese firm Nikko Securities and then Enskilda Securities- the investment banking arm of SE Banken, where he held senior roles based out of London, Stockholm and Frankfurt, including serving as a member of the bank’s corporate finance global management committee.

Sharma was born in India and moved to Reading in southern England when he was only five. Sharma is married and has two daughters.