Donald Trump makes Bannon and Priebus first cabinet appointments

Reince Preibus and Stephen Bannon have been named the first executive appointments to US president elect Donald Trump's cabinet.

After Trump won the vote to become the 45th president of the country last Tuesday he turned his attention to forming his cabinet when he takes office in January 2017.

Priebus, having previously served as chairman of the Republican National Committee, has been named as chief of staff in a move said to reward his loyalty throughout Trump's presidential campaign and as he is seen as an ideal figure to help smooth over the divides existent in the party.

Somewhat more controversial is the appointment of Bannon, the head of the right-wing Breitbart News Network who served as head of Trump's successful election campaign.

Bannon, chief agitator of the 'Alt-right' movement, will take up the vague position of "chief strategist and senior counselor", where he is said to have an equal role with Priebus in the pecking order of Trump's first cabinet.

"Steve and Reince are highly qualified leaders who worked well together on our campaign and led us to a historic victory," Trump said. "Now I will have them both with me in the White House as we work to make America great again."

Priebus is an ally of House speaker Paul Ryan, who appeared to be at loggerheads with Trump during his campaign and was reluctant to signal his support for the former reality television star.

Bannon represents the other end of the Republican scale, after a career which includes a post at investment bank Goldman Sachs, where under his reign the Breitbart news website has been accused of barefaced racism and sexism, while his appointment to the cabinet was met with some horror in Washington.

Dan Pfeiffer, former senior adviser to President Barack Obama, said on Twitter: “Nation exhales because white nationalist only gets second most influential job in White House.”

The Anti-Defamation League issued a scathing statement, which read: “It is a sad day when a man who presided over the premier website of the ‘alt-right’ — a loose-knit group of white nationalists and unabashed anti-Semites and racists — is slated to be a senior staff member in the ‘people’s house’.”