Former British Prime Minister David Cameron has returned to the UK government. This time, not as Prime Minister, as was the case between 2010 and 2016, but as Minister of Foreign Affairs. In this position, thanks to his extensive political experience, he must relieve Prime Minister Rishi Sunak of essential international work in times of international turmoil. This will give Sunak more space next year to focus on the election campaign in his country.
The appointment is part of a wider restructuring of Sunak’s government, which the Tories announced in footballing terms in a series of tweets on X – as if they were Premier League transfers. The current Foreign Secretary, James Cleverly, will move to the Home Office, where Suella Braverman will have to make way for him.
Police also adapt to ‘pro-Palestinian crowds’
Braverman’s resignation comes after an open letter recently published in the British newspaper times It was published without first submitting it to Sunak. In the letter, she strongly criticized the police’s approach to dealing with pro-Palestinian protests. According to her, police officers will be biased and more accommodating when it comes to “pro-Palestinian crowds” compared to what happens when right-wing demonstrators take to the streets. It has gone wrong with many police chiefs and parliamentarians alike.
But Braverman was the far right of Sunak’s government – to extend the Tories’ football metaphor. According to many, Sunak essentially promised her a cabinet position to gain her support in his battle for the party leadership more than a year ago. Through it, he gained the support of the right wing of the party and became Prime Minister.
Braverman’s resignation fits into the broader picture of Cabinet restructuring: a move toward the political center. Cameron’s return also follows this path. Michael Heseltine, the former deputy prime minister, said on behalf of the Conservative Party that his appointment ends a “move to the right” and an “anti-European trend”. Although Cameron made the Brexit referendum possible in 2016, he himself has been an outspoken opponent of leaving the EU.
Controversial choices by the manager
To be sure, not everyone within the ruling party is happy with the new course, after Sunak appeared to shift to the right ideologically last year. For example, MP Simon Clarke, again in footballing terms, was quick to criticize the ministerial appointments. “Some controversial choices from the manager to say the least,” he wrote.
Especially since there is little chance that Braverman will disappear from the scene. In fact, the British Supreme Court will decide on Wednesday whether the plan to send migrants by boat from the United Kingdom to Rwanda violates the European Convention on Human Rights. Braverman is a big supporter. So, if the court thwarts the plan, it will undoubtedly call on the UK to withdraw from that European treaty, even without a ministerial title. This could lead to increased divisions within the Conservative Party.
With Cameron’s appointment, Sunak is also taking an electoral risk. Because for many Britons, the former Prime Minister was and will remain primarily the man who made possible the biggest British political crisis in recent decades with the Brexit referendum. To use another football metaphor: a shot on an open goal for the opposition Labor Party during the upcoming election campaign.
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