DAVID Lidington is the new Cabinet Office Minister and Whitehall co-ordinator, whose key task will be to avoid a constitutional crisis between Westminster and Holyrood over Brexit.
The 61-year-old moves from the Ministry of Justice, where he had been Secretary of State and Lord Chancellor for just six months.
Like Damian Green, who he succeeds, Mr Lidington is regarded as an emollient figure who will have to use all his powers of persuasion and diplomacy to get the Scottish Government to agree to recommend Holyrood supporting the EU Withdrawal Bill.
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However, there are nine Brexit bills, some of which will need so-called Legislative Consent Motions from MSPs to agree that Westminster can legislate on matters devolved to the Scottish Parliament.
However, even if a constitutional confrontation is averted this spring one might occur later on and nearer Brexit Day when the UK Government presents its Withdrawal Agreement and Implementation Bill to put the withdrawal deal with the EU into law.
If, as expected, Theresa May sticks to her pledge to take the UK out of the European single market and customs union, then this will force Nicola Sturgeon and her colleagues in Edinburgh with the choice of agreeing to this move or opposing it with a key vote at Holyrood.
Technically, Westminster can override the wishes of the Scottish Parliament but politically it would be a dangerous strategy.
Mr Lidington, who has been Commons Leader and Europe Minister, is expected to face his first big test vis-a-vis his Scottish Government counterparts at the plenary session of the Joint Ministerial Committee later this month, which is due to be chaired by the Prime Minister.
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In his role as Cabinet Office Minister, the Aylesbury MP will have a key co-ordinating role, chairing a number of Cabinet committees on Brexit. In the June 2016 EU referendum, Mr Lidington, like most of his ministerial colleagues, supported Remain.
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