Sunak brings back Cameron in shock reshuffle
There was a shock move as Rishi Sunak reshuffled his top team today but it wasn’t the sacking of Suella Braverman. The major surprise is the return to frontline politics of a former big hitter, who will now go by the name of Lord Cameron.
Former Prime Minister David Cameron – who has been out of government since resigning in the wake of the political earthquake caused by the 2016 Brexit referendum – is Britain’s new Foreign Secretary. This frees up James Cleverly to replace Braverman as Home Secretary.
While it’s not an entirely unprecedented move, Cameron – who has said it will be an “honour” to serve the country again – is the first former PM to return to the cabinet in 60 years. (Alec Douglas-Home returned as foreign secretary under Ted Heath, following a stint as prime minister between 1963-64, while Neville Chamberlain served in Winston Churchill’s war cabinet).
Cameron will have to be ennobled to take up his new role, making him the first to serve as foreign secretary from the Lords since Lord Carrington under Margaret Thatcher. It means Cameron cannot be held directly to account by the Commons and a minister from the foreign office will have to make statements in the House of Commons on his behalf.
Bringing the 57 year-old back to frontline politics indicates Sunak’s ability to take criticism graciously. Though Cameron has today described Sunak as “a strong and capable prime minister”, only a month ago, he made rare political intervention, attacking Sunak for scrapping the northern leg of HS2. “We are heading in the wrong direction”, he warned gravely at the time.
So why has Sunak chosen to make this eye-catching appointment?
At a time when the government is consumed by foreign crises in the Middle East and Ukraine, the role of foreign secretary has never been more critical. The PM needs someone who is experienced and has international standing. Cameron arguably fits the brief here. Sunak may also be hoping that Cameron can win back former Tory voters in the home counties who have deserted the party.
Yet, in other respects, it’s a curious move.
It’s certainly one that opens up an easy line of attack for opposition parties. “This puts to bed the prime minister’s laughable claim to offer change from 13 years of Tory failure,” jibed Labour’s national campaign co-ordinator Pat McFadden today.
As to be expected, China hawks are also not happy. After all, Cameron was the architect of the so-called golden era that sought to make the UK and China indispensable allies – a policy that now looks hopelessly naive. “Those of us who are sanctioned by China and face attacks online day after day are astonished at the signal this sends,” fumed the former Conservative leader Iain Duncan Smith today. “It suggests that Sunak is intent on doing business with China at all costs.”
Cameron is almost certainly aware that his China policy aged badly and his position has likely shifted. Having said that, in addition to other higher profile lobbying controversies that have swirled around the former PM in recent years, he has been criticised for drumming up support for a controversial infrastructure project in Sri Lanka as part of President Xi’s Belt and Road initiative.
Elsewhere in Sunak’s reshuffle, Steve Barclay has moved from health to environment after Thérèse Coffey resigned while Victoria Atkins, who was financial secretary to the Treasury, has been appointed health secretary. Greg Hands appears to have paid the price for a succession of humiliating by-election defeats, and has been sacked as Tory party chairman. He will be replaced by Richard Holden, who only became an MP in 2016 after securing the former red wall seat of North West Durham for the Tories.
As for the fallen Suella, she will be hoping that her sacking frees her up to speak her mind and contest a future Tory leadership election. The Hound is sceptical. It reckons the best she can hope for is to become an essential voice of GB news.
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