The MP replacing Eddie Hughes at the Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) is Lee Rowley.

This 42-year-old MP and Leave voter, who was elected to parliament by the constituents of North East Derbyshire in 2017 following his two unsuccessful bids in other constituencies in 2010 and 2015, will be taking up the housing brief as a Parliamentary Under Secretary of State or '�junior minister' to use the shorthand.

Rowley will have a lot on his plate '� leasehold reform, the Renters Reform Bill and the ongoing cladding scandal were all being steered from the back office by his predecessor.

His appointment, and that of his boss, Secretary of State at DLUHC Simon Clarke, have lead to renewed calls for more permanent faces at the department and a stop to the 'revolving door', which has seen ten secretaries of state and 12 junior housing ministers appointed over the past ten years.

Hughes (pictured) resigned just a few days after the election of PM Liz Truss saying he wanted to spend more time with his family and constituents after nearly 20 months years at the DLUHC, and before that a stint as a government whip.

Rowley had until now been working as a junior minister at the Department of Business, Energy and Industry Strategy but has some interest in planning (see below), and in the past has contributed research on welfare and housing to the centre-right think tank, the Centre for Social Justice.

In December 2020 he said: 'There is no denying that the planning system, as it stands, is sub-optimal. It is broken, in places, and does not work either for those seeking to get on the housing ladder to be housed in the first place or for those interacting more closely with it, be they developers, planners or applicants.'�

Otherwise, his public housing commentary, debate contributions and voting record, and in particular on the private rented sector, are thin to non-existent so far.