The new Labour cabinet meet at Downing Street for the first time May 8. (L-R) Lord Richard (Lord Privy Seal and Leader of the House of Lords), Harriet Harman (Social Security Secretary), George Robertson (Defence Secretary), Margaret Beckett (President of the Board of Trade), Jack Straw (Home Secretary), Robin Cook (Foreign Secretary), Gordon Brown (Chancellor of the Exchequer), Lord Irvine of Lairg QC (Lord Chancellor), David Blunkett (Education and Employment Secretary) and Frank Dobson (Health Secretary). The new cabinet agreed on a 17-month legislative programme to enable Prime Minister Tony Blair to stamp the imprint of his modernising philosophy on Britain.

BRITAIN