LONDON — When Conservative Party politician Anne-Marie Trevelyan was appointed as the new leader of the U.K. Department for International Development last week, she became the organization’s sixth secretary of state since the Brexit referendum that took place less than four years ago.
Although her appointment was a relief to the development community — securing the department’s future for the time being — it also came as a surprise. Trevelyan has shown little previous interest in the sector, and not much was known about her.
A loyalist to Prime Minister Boris Johnson, the former corporate financier backed his 2019 campaign to lead the Conservatives. She was a board member of the staunchly pro-Brexit European Research Group of eurosceptic parliamentarians and said there would be “rioting on the streets” if the withdrawal from the European Union were delayed.