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Jane Ellison appointed health minister

The Government has announced that backbench Conservative MP Jane Ellison will replace Anna Soubry as a minister at the Department of Health.

The Conservative MP for Battersea, Balham and Wandsworth and prominent campaigner against female genital mutilation will replace Anna Soubry who will move to the Ministry of Defence.

Ms Soubry was infamous for appearing to support comments from a fellow Conservative MP that women doctors are a ‘tremendous burden’.

The announcement came via social networking site Twitter. A tweet from prime minister David Cameron’s office said: ‘Jane Ellison has been appointed as Parliamentary Under Secretary at Department of Health.’

It added: ‘Anna Soubry has been appointed as Parliamentary Under Secretary at MOD.’

Ms Ellison is a member of the Backbench Business Committee, co-chairman of the All Party Parliamentary Retail Group and vice chairman of the All Party Parliamentary Australia and New Zealand Group. She also set up the All-Party Parliamentary Group of Female Genital Mutilation (APPG on FGM) .

Last year she urged NHS North West London to keep key services such as the A&E department, paediatrics and maternity services open at Chelsea and Westminster hospital, used by many of her constituents, as the trust was consulting on reconfiguring services at the hospital.

Before being elected as an MP in 2010 she worked for the John Lewis Partnership, managing their customer magazine, after ten years of managing their customer direct marketing.