Tracey Crouch has survived a round of sweeping ministerial changes by new prime minister Theresa May, keeping her portfolio of sport, tourism and heritage.

After succeeding previous incumbent David Cameron on Wednesday afternoon, the former home secretary moved quickly to assemble her top team which disposed of many of the old guard, including former chancellor George Osborne and culture secretary John Whittingdale, who worked alongside Crouch at the Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS).

While Whittingdale was replaced with Staffordshire Moorlands MP Karen Bradley, Crouch has been given the opportunity to continue the work she had begun since her appointment last May.

Crouch was responsible for delivering the government’s sport strategy – Sporting Future – the first piece of sports policy in over a decade which puts physical activity, wellbeing and society at the heart of the desired targets. She was briefly replaced by David Evennett who took over her portfolio when she went away on maternity leave in January. However, the Chatham and Aylesford MP returned to post earlier this month.

After announcing that she had retained her ministerial position via her Twitter account, Crouch was congratulated by some of the key figures in the sector. Among them was UK Sport director of performance Simon Timson, British Paralympics chief executive Tim Hollingsworth and British Rowing chair Annamarie Phelps.