New immigration minister appointed to replace Beverley Hughes

Des Browne has been appointed as the new minister for
citizenship and immigration at the Home Office after Beverley
Hughes resigned yesterday.

He has been the MP for Kilmarnock and Loudoun since 1997. He was
appointed to the Department for Work and Pensions as the minister
for work in June 2003, and was a parliamentary under secretary of
state at the Northern Ireland Office between 2001-2003.

He is also a former member of the joint parliamentary committee
on human rights. Before entering parliament he was a lawyer and was
called to the Scottish Bar in 1993.