London (AFP)

To everyone's surprise, British Finance Minister Sajid Javid, one of the heavyweights of Boris Johnson's team, left the government on Thursday during the first reshuffle since Brexit.

He is being replaced by 39-year-old Chief Secretary of the Treasury Rishi Sunak, said Downing street.

This resignation represents a major surprise in a reshuffle that promised to be without major upheaval. It comes just a month from the presentation of the budget, the first since the United Kingdom left the European Union on January 31, which must predict a sharp increase in public spending.

According to a source close to Mr. Javid, Prime Minister Boris Johnson demanded that his Minister of Finance dismiss all of his special advisers and replace them with those from Downing Street. Javid said "no self-respecting minister would accept such conditions" and chose to resign, the source said.

After the announcement, the pound rose sharply. "The market is betting that (this reshuffle) means more spending, less austerity and more growth", one month before the budget presentation said Neil Wilson, analyst for Markets.com.

Sajid Javid, 50, is a former banker who turned to politics. The son of a Pakistani bus driver, he served as interior minister before being named Chancellor of the Exchequer last July, when Boris Johnson took over the government.

His departure comes as the United Kingdom begins from the beginning of next month delicate negotiations to define its future relations with the European Union.

After his overwhelming victory in the December 12 legislative elections, the head of the Conservative government preferred to wait for the United Kingdom to leave the European Union before carrying out a reshuffle.

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The other pillars of the government have been renewed: Dominic Raab for Foreign Affairs, Priti Patel for the Interior or Michael Gove, who was responsible for preparing Brexit before becoming, in a way, assistant to Boris Johnson.

Alok Sharma has been appointed Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Clean Growth. He will also head the COP26 on climate to be held in November in Glasgow (Scotland), after its president Claire Perry O'Neil was dismissed.

After the government's decision, she violently attacked Boris Johnson's record in the fight against the climate crisis and denounced a "huge lack of leadership".

In contrast, Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Julian Smith was thanked. However, he managed to put North Irish political institutions back into working order after three years of blockage between the two main parties, DUP unionists and Sinn Fein republicans, who share power there.

According to The Times, Boris Johnson accuses him of a lack of transparency in these negotiations which include an investigation into the crimes alleged against British soldiers during the three decades of "unrest", between Republicans (mainly Catholic) and Unionists (especially Protestants), who kills 3,500.

Irish outgoing Prime Minister Leo Varadkar pointed out that Julian Smith had, in eight months at his post, helped restore political institutions in Northern Ireland, concluded a Brexit agreement preventing the return of a physical border on the island and the opening of marriage to same-sex couples. "You are one of the best British politicians of your time. Thank you," he tweeted.

© 2020 AFP