Summary

  • In a shock move, ex-prime minister David Cameron becomes foreign secretary - seven years after he left Downing Street

  • Cameron says he has quit his business and charity roles to focus on the job because "I believe in public service"

  • As part of the move, he joins the House of Lords, becoming Lord Cameron and replaces James Cleverly who is now Home Secretary

  • Cleverly takes over the Home Office from Suella Braverman, who was sacked by Sunak after a series of controversial comments

  • Victoria Atkins is the new health secretary, while Laura Trott becomes chief secretary to the Treasury

  • Steve Barclay, who was health secretary, replaces Therese Coffey as environment secretary

  • You can watch the comings and goings on Downing Street, and our analysis, by pressing play at the top of the page

  1. Health Secretary Steve Barclay arrives at Downing Streetpublished at 12:56 Greenwich Mean Time 13 November 2023

    Health secretary Steve Barclay at Downing StreetImage source, PA Media

    Health Secretary Steve Barclay was seen arriving at No 10 a short time ago.

    We don't yet know why. Barclay has been the health secretary since October 2022.

  2. Right time to step back - Coffeypublished at 12:54 Greenwich Mean Time 13 November 2023

    In a letter to the prime minister, Coffey says it is "now the right time to step back from government".

    "I look forward to supporting you from the backbenches and working together for a Conservative majority at the next election, which I believe to be profoundly in the national interest."

  3. Coffey leaves cabinetpublished at 12:50 Greenwich Mean Time 13 November 2023
    Breaking

    Therese Coffey leaves her role as environment secretary, Downing Street says.

  4. New job for Coffey?published at 12:43 Greenwich Mean Time 13 November 2023

    Therese Coffey strokes Larry the catImage source, EPA

    Earlier this morning, Environment Secretary Therese Coffey stopped to say hi to Larry, the Downing Street cat, on her way into No 10.

    Her entrance sparked rumours that she, too, will have a new job later today.

    James Cleverly and David Cameron both went in the same entrance this morning - and soon came out with new jobs.

    People getting bad news tend to be told in offices in the Parliament building - where the cameras can't snap their arrival.

  5. Today's moves increase our election chances - Tory MPpublished at 12:30 Greenwich Mean Time 13 November 2023

    Tobias Ellwood, Conservative MP for Bournemouth East, tells BBC Radio 5Live’s Naga Munchetty: "I think today’s changes will increase our election prospects.

    "I’m really pleased to see this announcement draws a line on the challenges of last week and those unhelpful headlines."

    He adds he's glad "there’s been a course correction to prove clarity of where the prime minister wants to go".

  6. Analysis

    Will Cameron's old statements come back to haunt him?published at 12:25 Greenwich Mean Time 13 November 2023

    Ione Wells
    Political correspondent

    David Cameron has previously been deeply critical of the government’s decision to cut the aid budget from 0.7% of national income to 0.5%.

    He said the cut prompted questions like: “Do we care, do we act, and do we lead?”

    Cameron will be - unless this also changes - working with the development minister Andrew Mitchell, who was also previously critical of aid cuts.

    As foreign secretary, Cameron is now running the department responsible for aid spending.

    Will he stick to his former views - or will the words come back to haunt him?

    Screenshot of Cameron's tweet about foreign aidImage source, X
  7. Suella Braverman: She said it her waypublished at 12:11 Greenwich Mean Time 13 November 2023

    Dominic Casciani
    Home and legal correspondent

    Suella Braverman in the House of Commons alongside Rishi SunakImage source, PA Media

    Let's not forget that today began with Home Secretary Suella Braverman being sacked.

    Week in, week out, her words left us in no doubt about her approach to politics - and one of the most important posts in the British state.

    The Commons barb "Tofu-eating Wokerati" raised a cheer from her MPs (and may have even been secretly admired by enemies for its wordplay).

    But confrontational language such as "hate marches" concerned many.

    From her Daily Telegraph front page "obsession", to the "invasion" of the south coast, we have picked out her eight choicest moments in her words.

  8. Minister praises 'hugely experienced' Cameron's returnpublished at 12:00 Greenwich Mean Time 13 November 2023

    We're now hearing from Mark Harper - the current transport secretary - who's been talking to reporters while on a visit to Surrey to view a project to repair potholes.

    He praises Rishi Sunak's decision to bring back David Cameron, saying the new foreign secretary is "a team player, hugely experienced", adding:

    Quote Message

    Given the challenges facing us with the war in Ukraine [and] what's going on in the Middle East, having a really experienced person coming in... is an excellent move."

  9. Sunak back in Downing Street buildingpublished at 11:55 Greenwich Mean Time 13 November 2023

    Sunak in Downing StreetImage source, PA Media

    We've just seen that Rishi Sunak has re-entered the Downing Street building.

    As our political editor Chris Mason mentioned earlier, the prime minister left No 10 this morning and headed to Parliament.

    He was in Parliament's offices, we think, to tell ministers they were moving on - in short, to sack them.

    We'll bring you more announcements as they happen.

  10. Cameron himself made someone a Lord to get them into governmentpublished at 11:52 Greenwich Mean Time 13 November 2023

    We know that David Cameron - now Lord Cameron - has been given "the dignity of a Barony of the United Kingdom" for life.

    In short, that means he's in the House of Lords - the upper house of the UK Parliament.

    In order to hold a position in government, people generally sit in either the House of Commons as an MP or the Lords as a peer.

    Back in 2015, while prime minister, Cameron was forced to defend his decision to give Andrew Dunlop - a former adviser - a peerage so he could make him a minister at the Scotland Office.

    Back then, the Scottish National Party described Dunlop's appointment and the peerage as "scandalous".

    It also accused Cameron of "resorting to House of Lords ennoblement to govern Scotland".

  11. Watch: Cleverly 'absolutely committed' to stopping the boatspublished at 11:39 Greenwich Mean Time 13 November 2023

  12. People in Scotland will be appalled to see Cameron back - SNPpublished at 11:37 Greenwich Mean Time 13 November 2023

    Here's the SNP's Westminster deputy leader, Mhairi Black.

    "The fact that Rishi Sunak has had to resurrect David Cameron shows how tired this Tory government is," she says.

    "People in Scotland will be appalled that the architect of thirteen years of Tory austerity cuts, and the disastrous Brexit referendum, is back in government."

  13. Transport minister quits, thanking Sunak for 'calm' leadershippublished at 11:22 Greenwich Mean Time 13 November 2023

    Jesse NormanImage source, Wikimedia Commons

    Away from the big moments of the day - Suella Braverman's sacking and David Cameron's shock return to government - the wider reshuffle of PM Rishi Sunak's government continues.

    In the last few minutes, minister Jesse Norman has quit his role in the Department for Transport. He says he gave notice to the government whips "several months ago".

    "It has been a great honour to serve in successive governments since 2016," Norman says in a letter to Sunak, adding:

    Quote Message

    Thank you for the calm, focused and long-term leadership you have given this country over the past year."

  14. Analysis

    Stand-by for more announcements...published at 11:13 Greenwich Mean Time 13 November 2023

    Chris Mason
    Political editor

    The prime minister has left Downing Street and is now in Parliament.

    What does that mean? It means - in all likelihood - he is sacking people.

    People getting promoted get to strut the political catwalk of Downing Street.

    Those being blown out tend to be spared that public humiliation.

    Stand-by for more announcements…

  15. A quick recap of a breathless morningpublished at 11:06 Greenwich Mean Time 13 November 2023

    It's been quite the morning...

    • Home Secretary Suella Braverman was sacked, days after writing an explosive article in the Times. She criticised "pro-Palestinian mobs" and accused the police of "double standards"
    • James Cleverly - the foreign secretary - was then appointed home secretary
    • And in a shock return, David Cameron was appointed foreign secretary - the former prime minister has been out of government since resigning in 2016 after the Brexit referendum
    • Elsewhere, schools minister Nick Gibb asked to leave his role, as did health ministers Will Quince and Neil O'Brien
  16. Analysis

    New home secretary lobbied against key Home Office policypublished at 10:55 Greenwich Mean Time 13 November 2023

    Dominic Casciani
    Home and legal correspondent

    What is new Home Secretary James Cleverly going to do about a flagship Home Office policy that he is on the record as opposing?

    Suella Braverman approved converting former RAF Wethersfield to accommodate 1,700 asylum seekers for possibly three years.

    She needed the site because her department has been struggling for years with delays and backlogs in refugee decision-taking, exacerbated by more recent arrivals over the English Channel.

    Braintree District Council - the Conservative-led local authority - is now embroiled in a huge row with the Home Office at the High Court.

    Wethersfield is in Cleverly's Braintree constituency - and in March he confirmed to constituents that he had lobbied colleagues to stop the plan.

    It's not clear whether he still opposes putting migrants at the centre.

  17. Theresa May welcomes Cameron's returnpublished at 10:50 Greenwich Mean Time 13 November 2023

    David Cameron with Theresa May in 2010Image source, PA Media
    Image caption,

    Prime Minister David Cameron and Home Secretary Theresa May pictured in 2010

    Theresa May has welcomed the former prime minister's return as foreign secretary.

    "His immense experience on the international stage will be invaluable at this time of great uncertainty in our world," she writes.

    "Looking forward to working together again!"

    May - who was home secretary in Cameron's government, before herself becoming prime minister - remains a Conservative MP.

  18. 'I don't think I've had a funny turn': Reporter reacts to Cameron's returnpublished at 10:44 Greenwich Mean Time 13 November 2023

    Watch our chief political correspondent Henry Zeffman's surprise, as he reported live for the BBC just before 09:00 GMT...

    Media caption,

    Reporter is bewildered on-air by Cameron's return

  19. Analysis

    Did Cleverly want the new job?published at 10:39 Greenwich Mean Time 13 November 2023

    Ione Wells
    Political correspondent

    Back in July, James Cleverly said at the Aspen Security Forum in the US that he would need to be dragged out his job with "nail marks down the parquet flooring".

    It seemed an unusual appeal to Rishi Sunak to keep his job as foreign secretary.

    Now, that was in the summer when speculation was mounting he could replace Ben Wallace as defence secretary.

    He is now the home secretary.

    It’s a huge and controversial brief with difficult questions mounting over the legality of the government’s plan to send some asylum seekers to Rwanda, and the policing of protests.

    The question is - did he want it, given his summer comments?

  20. I may have disagreed with Sunak but I'm here to help - Cameronpublished at 10:34 Greenwich Mean Time 13 November 2023
    Breaking

    New Foreign Secretary David CameronImage source, Reuters

    We've just seen David Cameron leave 10 Downing Street, having been announced as the new foreign secretary.

    He was all smiles as he made his way to the Foreign Office - and has just posted on X.

    "While I have been out of front-line politics for the last seven years, I hope that my experience - as Conservative Leader for eleven years and Prime Minister for six - will assist me in helping the prime minister," Cameron says.

    He adds that, though he may have "disagreed with some individual decisions" made by Sunak, the PM is a "strong and capable" leader.