The government has now named the two new junior health ministers who are to replace David Mowat and Nicola Blackwood after they lost their seats in the general election.

Winchester and Chandler's Ford MP Steve Brine and Jackie Doyle-Price, MP for Thurrock, will join Jeremy Hunt at the Department of Health.

“I am very pleased to have been appointed as minister for public health. It is a wide ranging portfolio and I look forward to being able to make a real difference,” Doyle-Price said on social media, while Brine commented: “Very pleased the Prime Minister has asked me to join the Department of Health. They don't waste any time here ... much to do”.

Doyle-Price has been an assistant government whip since May 2015, while Brine also took on the same role in July 2015.

The government also confirmed that Ludlow MP Philip Dunne will retain his position as a minister of state for health and Lord O’Shaughnessy stays as junior health minister.