Inside Theresa May's cabinet: Boris Johnson listens on as new Tory PM chairs first meeting

Theresa May, fresh from her thumping Trident renewal victory last night in the House of Commons, chaired her first cabinet meeting in Number 10 this morning (19 July). Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson and International Trade Secretary Liam Fox, two Brexit backers, sat close to the new Conservative prime minister as she addressed her top team.

May, who previously promised to "build a better Britain not just for the privileged few", told the ministers that she wanted to create the "social mobility to allow everyone to prosper from the opportunities of leaving the EU".

The former Home Secretary had campaigned for Remain ahead of the EU referendum, but has since committed to a split from Brussels, declaring "Brexit means Brexit".

May recommitted to that vow today: "It will be the responsibility of everyone sitting around the Cabinet table to make Brexit work for Britain."

The discussion came after May's trip to Wales and Scotland, where she meet with First Ministers Labour's Carwyn Jones and SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon.

Meanwhile, Johnson is hosting US Secretary of State John Kerry in London this afternoon to discuss the "special relationship" between the UK and America.

The foreign secretary was widely criticised during the EU referendum campaign for claiming US President Barack Obama had an "inherent" dislike of the UK because of his "part-Kenyan" ancestry.

He has since stressed that the US would be at the "front of queue" for trade and other deals with the UK. The comment is a reference to Obama's pre-Brexit vote warning that Britain would "at the back of the queue" for a free trade deal if the country broke away from Brussels.

The meeting between Johnson and Kerry comes a day after the former Mayor of London made his first appearance at the EU Foreign Affairs Council. The government is not expected to trigger Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty, the formal mechanism to exit the EU, until 2017. The decision would mean that the UK would leave the 28-nation-bloc around 2019.