THE Isle of Man's new Council of Ministers reflects a "government of all the talents" according to the Chief Minister.
Allan Bell MHK has said he chose the new council in an effort to bring together a range of political opinion to help form a government of national unity.
Yesterday (Tuesday) the nine government ministers all attended their first sitting of Tynwald since the announcement was made on Friday.
Speaking about the new council Mr Bell said: "My ambition with this new council is, in effect, to form a government of national unity - to bring forward all strands of political opinion within government and hopefully out of that mould a team which will cooperate, work together and which will provide a political focus for unity which then will be reflected across the Island elsewhere."
The new Council of Ministers includes four new faces – Onchan MHK Peter Karran, Rushen MHK Juan Watterson, Douglas East MHK Chris Robertshaw and Peel MHK Tim Crookall.
Mr Bell continued: "I have looked at a mixture of continuity with some of the previous ministers who have had experience in various departments.
"I wanted to freshen that up with new ideas, some fresh faces and also to bring together various threads of political thinking and representation from various parts of the Island.
"I've tried also to structure this so that all parts of the Island are represented – we have two from the north, two from the west and two from the south and the rest from the Douglas/Onchan area. I hope it is regionally representative as well as politically representative.
"I believe we've got a good balanced team here – one I believe is committed to working together for the benefit of the Island and particularly to protect the Island in the time ahead and one which I believe will work very effectively."
No decision has yet been made on which backbenchers, both in the House of Keys and Legislative Council, will be taking up positions within the various government departments although Mr Bell said he hopes to have "put it all to bed" within a couple of weeks.
He said: "What I want to achieve in the time ahead is a government of all the talents. That means drawing on the best available talent within the House of Keys and Tynwald and indeed drawing in contributions from the private sector and from the wider Island community as well. We really need the best input that we can possibly achieve in the time ahead."
Find out what the new ministers think of their new positions by clicking here.
