Boris Johnson has appointed Lord Frost, his Brexit negotiator, as a full member of the cabinet to oversee the UK’s new relationship with the EU.

Lord Frost has been handed a role as a Cabinet Office minister to “help drive through changes to maximise the opportunities of Brexit”.

Downing Street said the 55-year-old, who finalised a Brexit trade deal with the EU on Christmas Eve, would be a full member of cabinet and his appointment will take effect from 1 March.

He will coordinate relations with Brussels and the EU’s 27 member states, while also working on domestic reform and regulation linked to Brexit.

Lord Frost will also be involved in international trade policy, working closely with Liz Truss’s Department for International Trade.

And he will become the UK’s chair of the Partnership Council, which has been formed as part of the Brexit trade deal, as well as the UK’s chair of the Withdrawal Agreement Joint Committee.

Up until now Michael Gove, the chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, had been chair of the Joint Committee – which oversees the implementation of the Brexit divorce deal, including matters related to the Irish border known as the Northern Ireland Protocol.

Following the news of his appointment, Lord Frost posted on Twitter: “I am hugely honoured to have been appointed minister to take forward our relationship with the EU after Brexit.

“In doing so I stand on the shoulders of giants & particularly those of @michaelgove who did an extraordinary job for this country in talks with EU over the past year.”

Mr Gove replied: “Huge congratulations to @DavidGHFrost – a great appointment – no one better to take forward our post-Brexit relationship with the EU.”

Lord Frost is a former diplomat who went on to become chief executive of the Scotch Whisky Association.

He was appointed as a special adviser by Mr Johnson when the now prime minister was foreign secretary in 2016.

The pair teamed up again when Mr Johnson entered Number 10, when he became the prime minister’s Brexit negotiator.

In June last year, Lord Frost was controversially lined up to become Mr Johnson’s new national security adviser.

However, that plan was abandoned just days before Lord Frost was due to start the role.

He was handed a life peerage to sit in the House of Lords by Mr Johnson in September last year.

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