Hereford and South Herefordshire MP Jesse Norman has been appointed as minister of state at the Department for Transport.

His appointment was made by new prime minister Rishi Sunak on Wednesday among a raft of new government appointments.

Mr Norman’s new boss is neighbouring Forest MP Mark Harper who has returned to the Cabinet after six years on the back benches to take on the role of Secretary of State for Transport.

Jesse Norman was moved from his Foreign Office role just seven weeks after being appointed by Liz Truss.

And fellow Conservative neighbour, Monmouth MP David Davies, will also join Mr Harper in the Cabinet after being promoted to Welsh Secretary.

Speaking after his appointment as minister of state for transport Mr Norman said: “Delighted to be back at the Department for Transport.

‘‘We’re getting the band back on the road—or rail—or in the air—or zero carbon active travel.”

DfT work with agencies and partners to support the transport network across the UK.

They help get people and goods travelling around the country. The department’s job is to plan and invest in transport infrastructure to “keep the UK on the move”.

Current prime minister Rishi Sunak was Mr Norman’s chosen candidate for prime minister for the second Conservative Party leadership race of 2022.

In the first race for prime minister of the year, Mr Norman backed then chancellor of the exchequer Nadhim Zahawi, one of the first to withdraw from the race.

During the race Mr Norman ruled out supporting a return from previous prime minister Boris Johnson. He said: “There are several very good potential candidates for Conservative leader. But choosing Boris now would be—and I say this advisedly—an absolutely catastrophic decision.”

He voiced his support on October 23: “I am supporting Rishi Sunak as leader. Having worked closely with him at HM Treasury, I saw at first hand how effective he was as chancellor of the exchequer. So he will be as prime minister.”

Mr Norman was previously minister of state at the Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Office from September 7, 2022 to October 26, 2022.

Prior to that, he was financial secretary to the treasury from 2019 to 2021, where he managed the Covid-19 furlough scheme and set up the UK Infrastructure Bank.

Jesse Norman has been the MP for Hereford and South Herefordshire since 2010. He was one of many Conservative MPs who penned a letter of no confidence to the 1922 committee requesting previous prime minister Boris Johnson’s resignation.

Jesse Norman, whose constituency includes Ross-on-Wye, backed Mr Sunak in the leadership battle.

The 60-year-old’s new duties as Transport Minister will cover national roads, highways agency reform, the infrastructure bill, maritime, and he will be Commons spokesman on bus policy.