Jeremy Wright MP is to replace Dominic Grieve as attorney general, the prime minister announced today.

Wright, 41, was called to the Inner Temple in 1996 and practised criminal law. He has been an MP since 2005, currently for Kenilworth and Southam in the West Midlands. 

Wright (pictured) was appointed a junior justice minister in 2012, responsible for prisons and rehabilitation. 

Cameron also confirmed the appointment of South Swindon MP Robert Buckland as the new Solicitor General, replacing Oliver Heald. Buckland, a member of the justice select committee, is joint secretary of the Conservative Party’s influential 1922 committee of backbenchers.

He practised in criminal law and planning at 30 Park Place in Cardiff and in 2007 joined the newly-formed Apex Chambers in Cardiff. Buckland is a door tenant at 23 Essex Street Chambers in London.

In another move, Mike Penning, MP for Hemel Hempstead, replaces Damian Green, sacked as minister for policing at the Home Office and Ministry of Justice. Penning, a former soldier, firefighter and political journalist, is an executive member of the 1922 committee. 

Grieve, who had been attorney general since 2010, left the government last night in a reshuffle that involved the departure of the solicitor general Oliver Heald among at least 15 ministers.

Grieve was regarded in the legal community as a sympathetic voice in the Cabinet over such issues as cuts in legal aid. He has also spoken in support of the Human Rights Act. As shadow justice secretary before the 2010 election he had been tipped for the post of lord chancellor but was believed to have been passed over for his 'wet' views.