Ex-London mayor Boris Johnson has been appointed UK foreign secretary

Reuters

Former mayor of London Boris Johnson has been appointed foreign secretary by the UK's new prime minister Theresa May. 

A prominent Brexit campaigner, Johnson was seen as the favorite to succeed David Cameron as prime minister before abruptly pulling out of the race earlier this month.

His role in Britain's negotiations over its future relationship with the EU is likely to be limited because May is expected to create a new ministerial post focused on Brexit.

Philip Hammond, who until earlier on Wednesday was Britain's Foreign Secretary, has succeeded George Osborne as finance minister in the government being formed by May to take Britain out of the European Union.

Osborne, who resigned earlier on Wednesday, had served as finance minister since 2010 and was considered a likely future prime minister until last month's referendum decision to take Britain out of the European Union. Osborne had been a leader of the "Remain" campaign.

Other confirmed cabinet ministers include conservative MPs Amber Rudd and Michael Fallon as UK home secretary and Minister of Defense, respectively.

Rudd, a former British energy minister, was a high-profile campaigner for the losing "Remain" camp in last month's European Union membership referendum.

Reuters

May, Britain's tough former interior minister, became prime minister on Wednesday, promising to champion social justice and rise to the challenge of leading the country out of the European Union.

The 59-year-old assumed office after an audience with Queen Elizabeth and drove straight to her new home of 10 Downing Street, vacated hours earlier by David Cameron, whose resignation after the vote to leave the EU brought her to power.

"We will rise to the challenge. As we leave the European Union we will forge a bold new positive role for ourselves in the world, and we will make Britain a country that works not for a privileged few, but for every one of us," she said.

Cameron stepped down after Britons rejected his entreaties to stay in the EU last month with a decision to get out that severely undermines European efforts to forge greater unity and creates economic uncertainty across the 28-nation bloc.

May must now try to limit the damage to British trade and investment as she renegotiates the country's ties with its 27 EU partners. She will also attempt to unite her divided Conservative party and a fractured nation in which many, on the evidence of the vote, feel angry with the political elite and left behind by the forces of globalization.ReutersIn comments addressed to ordinary Britons, she spoke of the 'burning injustice' suffered by large sections of society: poor people facing shorter life expectancy; blacks treated more harshly by the criminal justice system; women earning less than men; the mentally ill; and young people struggling to buy homes.

Acknowledging the struggles faced by many people, May declared: "The government I lead will be driven not be the interests of the privileged few, but by yours. We will do everything we can to give you more control over your lives."

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