Ahead of next year’s election, UK Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak is reshuffling his cabinet.
As part of the reshuffling David Cameron has returned to cabinet after Suella Braverman’s sacking.
He will be the foreign secretary, with James Cleverly moving to the Home Office. Ms Braverman, who is said to have long-term leadership ambitions, was sacked over comments about homelessness and police handling of the riot.
Mrs Braverman’s sacking kickstarted a major cabinet reshuffle by Rishi Sunak, as he reshapes his top team ahead of next week’s Autumn Statement.
Steve Barclay has replaced Therese Coffey as Environment Secretary, with Treasury Minister Victoria Atkins promoted to replace him as Health Secretary.
Meanwhile, former Transport Minister Richard Holden has been appointed Tory party chairman, and Laura Trott becomes Chief Secretary to the Treasury, replacing John Glen.
David Cameron has been out of Parliament since he stood down as prime minister in 2016 and has been given a seat in the House of Lords to enable him to take up his new position.
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The Liberal Democrats are calling for his peerage to be blocked, referring to his lobbying for collapsed finance company Greensill Capital.
Senior Labour MP Pat McFadden said the former PM’s appointment “puts to bed the Prime Minister’s laughable claim to offer a change from 13 years of Tory failure”.
Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle has said he has asked parliamentary officials for advice on how MPs can hold Lord Cameron to account, adding this is particularly important amid current international crises.
Lord Cameron said he wanted to be “part of the strongest possible team that serves the United Kingdom” ahead of the general election.
“Though I may have disagreed with some individual decisions, it is clear to me that Rishi Sunak is a strong and capable prime minister, who is showing exemplary leadership at a difficult time,” he said.
In July, Mr Cleverly said he would have to be dragged out of his foreign secretary job “with nail marks down the parquet flooring”.
But on Monday, Mr Cleverly said it has been a “huge privilege” to serve as foreign secretary, and that being home secretary was a “fantastic job”.
He refused to be drawn on whether he would distance himself from Mrs Braverman’s time in the Home Office. “I intend to do this job in the way that I feel best protects the British people and our interests,” he said.
Mr Cleverly inherits some major challenges from his predecessor.
Top of the pile is the still raging row over pro-Palestinian protests in London. Downing Street is understood to want him immediately to review police powers to make it easier to ban marches and prosecute those glorifying terrorism.
Less than two days into the job, Mr Cleverly will have to deal with a Supreme Court decision on the lawfulness of the government’s Rwanda policy.
Even if the government wins, the policy is likely to see further legal challenges from individual asylum seekers attempting to avoid being sent to Rwanda.
