James Cleverly has found himself occupying a second of the great offices of state in little over a year after the Prime Minister moved him to Home Secretary following Suella Braverman’s sacking.
The senior Conservative has shown loyalty to Rishi Sunak since the Prime Minister decided to keep him on as foreign secretary when entering Downing Street just over a year ago.
Mr Cleverly, who has previously shown a desire to be prime minister, is an old ally of Boris Johnson and was a staunch backer of Liz Truss before her short-lived stint in No 10.
Ms Truss rewarded Mr Cleverly by making him foreign secretary, with Mr Sunak re-appointing him in October 2022.
During his time leading the Foreign Office, he has dealt with a series of international crises, often briefing the media recently on the situation in the Middle East as the war between Israel and Hamas continues to rage.
The 54-year-old visited China in August, becoming the first British foreign secretary to make the trip in five years — a move criticised by Tory MPs who want Mr Sunak’s administration to take a more hawkish approach to relations with Beijing.
However, any shift in position on China appears unlikely after David Cameron, a Sinophile during his tenure as prime minister, returned to government as Foreign Secretary during Monday’s reshuffle.
The MP for Braintree also played a central role in the evacuation of UK nationals from Sudan when fighting broke out between two separate factions in the central African country in spring 2023, while being one of the main UK Government spokesmen on the Ukraine conflict.
His new position of Home Secretary allows Mr Cleverly to tick-off another Cabinet post.
He briefly held the position of education secretary – making him the third person in that role in 48 hours – as Mr Johnson’s premiership collapsed around him in July 2022.
He has also been co-chairman of the Conservative Party and held lower ranking ministerial positions in the Cabinet Office, Foreign Office and the defunct department for exiting the European Union.
According to his website, Mr Cleverly, the son of a midwife and a businessman, was born in Lewisham Hospital, where his mother worked, in south-east London.
He spent much of his childhood with family in Chelmsford, Essex, and joined the Army when he left school.
But his ambition hit the rocks when injury struck, and he returned to education to get a business degree.
He also signed up for the Territorial Army, where he has served for about 20 years.
Mr Cleverly, married to Susie and a father of two, had a career in magazine and digital publishing, and says he worked on a number of “market-leading titles” before setting up his own company.
He ventured into the world of politics, with an unsuccessful bid to serve on Lewisham council in 2002.
He also stood for the Lewisham East parliamentary seat in 2005, but lost out to Labour.
Mr Cleverly was elected to the London Assembly as the member for Bexley and Bromley in 2008 and later replaced Mr Johnson as chairman of the London Waste and Recycling Board.
In 2012, Mr Johnson, then mayor of London, made him chairman of the London Fire Authority.
Mr Cleverly stepped down from that role in 2015 after being selected to run for Parliament at the next general election, and secured his Braintree seat for the first time that year.
While serving as a Brexit minister, he joined the Tory leadership race to replace Theresa May in 2019.
But he later pulled out, saying his fellow MPs were not comfortable with the idea of picking a “relatively new” colleague.
In his new role in the Home Office, he will help Mr Sunak tackle a priority in-tray, including dealing with the Supreme Court verdict this week on whether it is legal for the UK Government to deport migrants arriving via small boats to Rwanda.
The Prime Minister has regularly cited the Rwanda policy as one of the ways that could help deliver his pledge of stopping the boats from crossing the Channel ahead of the next election.
The new Home Secretary is also likely to be tasked with reviewing police powers to tackle disruptive protests following reports Mr Sunak is keen to make it easier for chiefs to ban marches and prosecute those glorifying terrorism — an accusation levelled at some of those attending pro-Palestinian demonstrations.
Mr Cleverly has played his part on the world stage. He will now switch his attention to delivering on the Prime Minister’s domestic priorities.
