Cameron's return has wowzers value - but can it unite the government?published at 10:24 Greenwich Mean Time 13 November 2023

10:24 GMT 13 November 2023

Chris Mason
Political editor

As cor blimey moments go in politics, this is one.

David Cameron is back - or Lord Cameron as he now is - as foreign secretary.

It’s not unprecedented for the foreign secretary to be a member of the House of Lords - Lord Carrington was Margaret Thatcher’s from 1979-1982.

But the return of a former prime minister to the cabinet table has wowzers value to it, there's no doubt about that.

PM Rishi Sunak will hope this is finally the thing that gets him and his government noticed and can change the political weather.

He will argue, no doubt, this is a coming together of the Conservative political family, putting aside the turbulence of recent years.

But remember only weeks ago Sunak was defining himself against recent former Tory leaders.

Cameron himself said, for example, that scrapping the northern leg of HS2 was a mistake.

Let's not forget what started this dramatic reshuffle - Suella Braverman being sacked as home secretary.

Her friend - and the MP for Yeovil - Marcus Fysh says he's "sad" to see Braverman go, paying tribute to his "very talented" friend.

But he tells our colleagues at BBC Radio Somerset: "She’s sometimes opened herself up to criticism by means of the words she’s used – she’s always needed to work on that really – so I can understand, in a way, that’s becoming a distraction."

James Cleverly, who was made home secretary this morning, has made his first statement in his new role.

Here's what he says:

And here's some more Labour reaction.

Jess Phillips MP writes on X: "Nothing says change and future like... David Cameron.

"It's as if they want the people to sing 'you've had 13 years!'"

Image source, Reuters

We're hearing now the first comments from the Labour Party.

"A few weeks ago Rishi Sunak said David Cameron was part of a failed status quo, now he's bringing him back as his life raft," national campaign co-ordinator Pat McFadden says.

"This puts to bed the prime minister's laughable claim to offer change from 13 years of Tory failure."

Harder for Sunak to define himself against what came beforepublished at 10:12 Greenwich Mean Time 13 November 2023

10:12 GMT 13 November 2023

Henry Zeffman
Chief political correspondent

As I recover from the shock of David Cameron’s return to government, I’m just thinking through some of the implications.

His diplomatic experience could signal a desire on PM Rishi Sunak’s part to focus on domestic priorities - at a time when the government is consumed by foreign crises in the Middle East and Ukraine.

There is likely to be unease, though, among some Tory China hawks given Cameron ushered in a “golden age” of UK-China relations.

There is some domestic politics to this though. Cameron may still be popular with some of the southern voters the Conservatives are losing to the Liberal Democrats.

Yet Sunak is trying to define himself against so much of what has come before, including previous Conservative governments.

That was already a bit of a challenge when he had figures like Jeremy Hunt and Michael Gove, who have been in government for much of the past 13 years, around the cabinet table.

It’ll be harder still with Cameron there.

In the past few minutes, we've seen James Cleverly leave Downing Street after being appointed Suella Braverman's replacement as home secretary.

All eyes are now on the front door of No 10, as journalists wait to catch a glimpse of the newly-announced Foreign Secretary David Cameron.

Image source, Reuters

It's been a big morning of moves.

But one person who isn't moving is Jeremy Hunt - it has been confirmed that he remains as chancellor.

As a reminder, you can press play at the top of the page to see who's in and out of Downing Street - plus our analysis of today's events.

This is how the news was announced on the Downing Street social media accounts, external three minutes ago....

Image source, Downing Street

It's just been announced that David Cameron, the former prime minister, is the new foreign secretary.

Cameron replaces James Cleverly who, as we reported earlier, is the new home secretary.

This reshuffle was sparked by the sacking of Suella Braverman this morning, days after she wrote a controversial article in The Times newspaper, criticising the Met Police.

It was later confirmed she had ignored advice from No 10 to make changes to the article.

Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey says: "Suella Braverman was never fit to be home secretary. Rishi Sunak knew this, and he still appointed her.

"It was the prime minister's sheer cowardice that kept her in the job even for this long.

"They need to put us all out of our misery and call a general election now."

Braverman sacked, but Gibb and O'Brien ask to leavepublished at 09:55 Greenwich Mean Time 13 November 2023

09:55 GMT 13 November 2023

Iain Watson
Political correspondent

Suella Braverman has been asked to leave government - but two highly regarded ministers have themselves asked to leave.

Neil O’Brien, a health minister, wants to spend more time in his constituency - with a tightly fought general election in prospect, that may be a wise move.

And - as we just reported - Nick Gibb intends to stand down at the next election so has asked to leave ministerial office.

This means Rishi Sunak will have to carry out a wider reshuffle that extends beyond cabinet.

Away from the headline moves, we're also hearing news of the reshuffle at lower levels of the government.

Schools minister Nick Gibb says he won't stand at the next general election, and is standing down as a minster now.

"Over the last few weeks I have been discussing taking up a diplomatic role after the general election," he says.

"To enable me to do so I have asked the prime minister if I can step down from the government at the reshuffle and he has agreed."

He adds: "I campaigned for Rishi last summer and I remain an enthusiastic supporter of the prime minister's leadership."

He replaces Suella Braverman, who was sacked this morning.

Until now, Cleverly had been serving as Rishi Sunak's foreign secretary.

We're yet to hear who'll replace Cleverly in the Foreign Office.

It's going to be quite a daypublished at 09:37 Greenwich Mean Time 13 November 2023

09:37 GMT 13 November 2023

Chris Mason
Political editor

Here are two words that have been used to me about today’s reshuffle, from different folk, this morning.

"Massive" and "seismic".

Let’s see - and language at Westminster is easily inflated - but the early indications suggest these words might be entirely reasonable.

The home secretary is out. The foreign secretary is in Downing Street. And a former prime minister has turned up.

That is big bananas in reshuffle terms already.

Plus more junior ministers are indicating they are leaving - which points to this shake-up having depth as well as breadth.

How does Cameron become a minister if he's not an MP?published at 09:36 Greenwich Mean Time 13 November 2023

09:36 GMT 13 November 2023

You may wonder how it's possible for David Cameron to become a secretary of state.

In short, he'd have to be sworn into the House of Lords - the upper house of the UK Parliament - as a matter of urgency.

A former prime minister has re-entered government before.

Alec Douglas-Home - Conservative PM from 1963 to 1964 - came back as Ted Heath's foreign secretary, serving from 1970 to 1974.

He, though, was an MP when returning to government.

The former prime minister entered No 10 this morning - in order, we think, to be offered a new job by Rishi Sunak.

"It has been the greatest privilege of my life to serve as home secretary," she says.

"I will have more to say in due course."

Former PM David Cameron is in Downing Street, and there's a reshuffle taking place. There's no word of what job he's getting... yet.

Here's a reminder of the former PM's record.

• He became prime minister in 2010. At 43 he was the youngest person to hold that office since 1812
• He had six years in office and is best remembered as the man who delivered the Brexit referendum - he supported the Remain campaign, and resigned when Leave won
• As prime minister, he oversaw a coalition government, working with the Lib Dems until 2015, before winning an overall majority in that year's election

Here's an in-depth read about Cameron written in 2016.