Speculation is continuing to grow about Priti Patel's possible return to the cabinet.

The Witham MP, who also represents Stanway and Tiptree, is expected to land a top Government position again after Boris Johnson won the race to become Britain's new Prime Minister.

The former London mayor claimed two thirds of Conservative members' votes in the final round of the party's leadership contest and will officially be unveiled as the new Prime Minister later today.

A cabinet reshuffle is expected to be announced soon after, and Ms Patel is being hotly tipped to take up a leading role under Mr Johnson, less than two years after her infamous resignation as International Development Secretary.

The Tory admitted she 'fell below the high standards' expected of her after it emerged she had held secretive meetings with senior political figures in Israel.

She resigned from her role in November 2017.

Elected Witham MP in 2010 at the age of 38, she achieved ministerial rank just four years later as exchequer secretary to the Treasury, before promotion to employment minister following David Cameron's 2015 general election victory.

She was one of the ministers who took advantage of Mr Cameron's decision to allow members of his Government to argue on both sides of the EU referendum and played a prominent role in the Leave campaign.

Her appointment as International Development Secretary was greeted with concern by some in the aid community, who recalled that she had previously called for her new ministry to be replaced by a Department for International Trade and Development with greater focus on boosting UK business opportunities in the developing world.

The now 47-year-old was born in Harrow, north London, the daughter of parents who came to Britain from Idi Amin's Uganda in the 1960s.

She studied at a comprehensive school in Watford before taking a degree in economics, sociology and social anthropology at Keele University and a post-graduate diploma in government and politics at Essex.