Margaret Beckett Appointed Housing Minister

In the latest of Prime Minister Gordon Browns former Deputy Leader Margaret Beckett is to replace Caroline Flint as housing minister.Caroline Flint is moving to the foreign office in Gordon Brown's cabinet reshuffle.

Former minister Peter Mandelson also returns to the cabinet as secretary of state for business, enterprise and regulatory reform, with a seat in the House of Lords.Mandelson moves back from the European Union where he was trade commissioner.

Margaret Beckett, 65, who once briefly led the Labour Party,the first woman to do so, is seen as safe pair of hands who will inject experience and maturity into Gordon Brown's Government as the new Housing Minister.