Trump reaches beyond loyalists to put woman and African American in team

Donald Trump has moved to add ­gender and racial diversity to his administration, picking a woman and an African American to join his incoming cabinet.

The president-elect reached beyond his inner circle to pick Nikki Haley, South Carolina governor and a critic of Mr Trump during the campaign, as UN ambassador. And he asked Ben Carson, a retired neurosurgeon who ran against Mr Trump for the Republican nomination, to be housing secretary.

Ms Haley, the daughter of Indian immigrants, has little foreign policy experience and would be the first person in more than a decade to hold the job without a diplomatic background.

But she is a rising star within the Republican party who has been mentioned as a future presidential candidate herself. Dr Carson had said he did not want a cabinet position but yesterday wrote on Facebook that after talks with the Trump transition team, he now believed he could “make a significant contribution, particularly to making our inner cities great for everyone”.

Until their selection, Mr Trump had stuck with hardliners and loyalists for his incoming administration, picking close advisers for attorney-general and national security adviser and a harsh critic of Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton to head the CIA. All three are white men. The choice of Ms Haley and Dr Carson is seen as an attempt to achieve greater diversity in the team.

“Governor Haley . . . is also a proven dealmaker and we look to be making plenty of deals,” Mr Trump said.

Meanwhile, Mr Trump was said to be looking to establishment figures for his national security team. Retired General James Mattis, a former commander of US forces in the Middle East respected on both sides of the political aisle, is the leading contender to become defence secretary, while Mitt Romney, the 2012 Republican presidential nominee who condemned Mr Trump during the campaign, is under consideration for secretary of state.

Ms Haley supported Marco Rubio, the Florida senator, in the Republican primaries and, after he quit the race, endorsed Ted Cruz, a conservative Texas senator. Earlier in the campaign she declared that Mr Trump represented “everything a governor doesn’t want in a president”.