David Cameron has been appointed as foreign secretary by Rishi Sunak as part of a major cabinet reshuffle sparked by Suella Braverman’s sacking.
On Monday morning, Braverman was sacked as home secretary after writing an article in the Times in which she accused the Metropolitan Police of “playing favourites” with how it handles protests.
The article was widely criticised by figures from both within and outside the Tory Party, who accused her of undermining public confidence in the police and labelled her comments as “offensive” and “inflammatory”.
It later emerged that Braverman had ignored edits to the article that Number 10 had suggested and that the Prime Minister had not signed off on the article.
Braverman’s sacking was the start of a major cabinet reshuffle by the Prime Minister, which has seen James Cleverly appointed home secretary.
But without doubt the most surprising appointment is David Cameron’s return to frontline politics as foreign secretary.
The former Tory leader and prime minister isn’t currently an MP, having resigned as MP to Witney in 2016, but this doesn’t mean he can’t be appointed as a secretary of state.
Cameron will be made a peer in the House of Lords as a matter of urgency, therefore allowing him to be appointed as a secretary of state.
This wouldn’t be the first time a former prime minister has re-entered government before.
Alec Douglas-Home – Conservative PM from 1963 to 1964 – came back as Ted Heath’s foreign secretary, serving from 1970 to 1974. However, he was still a sitting MP when he returned to government.
