The newly-ennobled David Cameron joined his first Cabinet meeting under Rishi Sunak on Tuesday as feuding Tory Right-wingers were urged to unite under the Prime Minister’s revamped top team.
The former PM took his place at the top table inside No10 after his shock return as Foreign Secretary, while the outspoken Suella Braverman was fired from the Home Office, as Mr Sunak promoted a raft of centrists from the Cameron era in the build-up to a general election next year.
“A warm welcome to those for whom it’s their first Cabinet and also a welcome to those for whom it may not be their first time,” the premier told his new frontbench team.
“Our purpose is nothing less than to make the long-term decisions that are going to change our country for the better. I know that this strong and united team is going to deliver that change for everybody,” Mr Sunak added.
He noted it was an “important week”, with inflation figures and the Supreme Court’s Rwanda ruling expected on Wednesday before Chancellor Jeremy Hunt’s Autumn Statement next Wednesday.
In a sign of tensions surrounding Mrs Braverman’s sacking, there was no traditional exchange of letters between her and the PM, although she indicated that she would have more to say later — possibly after the Supreme Court delivers its verdict on the Rwanda deportations plan.
One Right-winger angered at her dismissal, Andrea Jenkyns, wrote to demand a no-confidence vote in Mr Sunak’s leadership.
“He could have moved Suella to a different position, that’s always in the Prime Minister’s gift. But he has purged my wing of the party out of Cabinet,” she told GB News.
But there was little sign of a wider party revolt the day after the reshuffle as Mr Sunak convened his new-look Cabinet featuring James Cleverly as Home Secretary and Victoria Atkins as Health Secretary tasked with ending doctors’ strikes.
Questions did emerge over Ms Atkins’ appointment in charge of the nation’s health given that she is married to the chief executive of ABF Sugar, one of the world’s largest sugar companies.
There was an appeal for unity from new Tory chairman Richard Holden — brought in to replace the demoted Greg Hands, who was made minister of London alongside a middle-ranking role in the trade department.
Mrs Braverman was “totally entitled to her opinions”, Mr Holden said, after she exhausted Mr Sunak’s patience with her attacks on the homeless and Metropolitan Police ahead of last weekend’s huge pro-Palestinian protest in central London. But the new chairman added on BBC Breakfast: “I’m somebody from the Right of the Conservative Party as well. I want to see us being that broad church.
“There’ll always be people who are disappointed they’ve not been promoted or recognised in some way, but I think we need to concentrate as a party, and as a Government, on the issues that really affect the people of the country.”
While the drama of Lord Cameron’s return dominated much of the reshuffle coverage, questions mounted over his accountability to MPs given that he will serve from the upper chamber, and over his business links to China forged after he resigned as PM in 2016 following his defeat in the Brexit referendum.
Criticism was also levelled after it emerged that the new Foreign Secretary had in 2010 described Gaza as a “giant open prison”. But Lord Hague, a former foreign secretary, said his old PM “brings huge expertise of world affairs”. Lord Hague said he was aware of Mr Sunak’s plan “a few days before” and did brief Lord Cameron about the role, but denied he acted as go-between or that he himself intended a return to government.
Mr Sunak on Monday night gave a speech on foreign policy at the Lord Mayor’s Banquet at the Guildhall. Outside, environment activist Greta Thunberg joined a protest against government plans for new oil and gas licences in the North Sea.
