Ding dong

One thing you can say about the return of David Cameron to frontline politics as Foreign Secretary in Rishi Sunak's cabinet reshuffle after his sacking of Suella Braverman, it sucks the oxygen of commentary away from her - for now at least.

Bringing back a Tory 'big beast' might bolster Sunak's position against the inevitable backlash that will follow Braverman's sacking but it is a potentially dangerous strategy. Sunak may be signalling a slightly more liberal, centrist direction of travel for his party in the runup to the general election but Cameron was a Remainer, albeit a lukewarm one, which may irritate ardent Brexiteers on the government backbenches and in the wider party. On the other hand he delivered the referendum that enabled Brexit so they may cut him some slack for that at least.

What Cameron's return says about the talent pool amongst current Tory MPs is another matter. Was there really no other option than to create a peerage for a former Prime Minister? Cameron is the first Foreign Secretary to sit in the House of Lords since the late Lord Carrington occupied the post under Margaret Thatcher until 1982. What it says about Sunak's much-vaunted 'fresh start' is another thing. Far from representing 'change' it looks suspiciously like a case of back to the future. 

James Cleverly was shuffled out of his beloved post as Foreign Secretary to the Home Office to clear the space for Cameron. He had previously pleaded with Sunak to leave him in the Foreign Office, saying he would have to be dragged out of it “with nail marks down the parquet". Well, the floor polishing machine will have to be deployed as Cameron moves in and Cleverly decamps to Braverman's old lair in Marsham Street.

The other intriguing issue in Cameron's appointment is why he would want to return to the melee after seven years of relative obscurity since resigning in the wake of his Referendum defeat. On that occasion he was heard to hum a merry tune on his way back into Downing Street, which was taken as a signal of his relief to be handing the poisoned chalice to Theresa May. 

Despite (or perhaps because of) the shadow of the Greensill scandal hanging over him his willingness to make a comeback now might have been prompted by a calculation that it will only be for a year (possibly less) until the general election whereas his Barony is for life. It may be a turbulent year (or six months) ahead but after the almost inevitable defeat he can look forward to a comfortable retirement in the House of Lords. He gets to wear ermine and Samantha gets to be a Lady. Result!

But Braverman has not gone away, only been temporarily eclipsed by Cameron's shock return. If her op-ed piece in The Times is anything to go by her letter to Sunak in the wake of her sacking will be extremely disobliging, ie incendiary. Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned, they say, and this particular woman is likely to be a veritable Fury. If she was a loose cannon on the frontbench God knows what she'll do now she's totally unconstrained on the backbenches. She has promised in a tweet that she will have more to say later. You betcha she will!

Rumours of Galinda's death are much exaggerated.

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