INTUSK MAGAZINE

In a cabinet change that saw Suella Braverman fired as home secretary, David Cameron made a dramatic political comeback to become Rishi Sunak's foreign secretary. 

Just one month after promising to be the change candidate" at the Conservative conference, the prime minister confirmed the ministerial team expected to lead the party into the next election on Monday and looked to his moderate predecessor to help reduce the gap with Labour. 

In a clear turn towards the centre that frightened some on the right of the party, Sunak promoted moderate James Cleverly, the foreign secretary, to the Home Office and confirmed that Jeremy Hunt would remain chancellor.


Probably a last ditch effort by Sunak, the reshuffle shows a shift towards securing the Tory base in southern blue wall districts, even at the expense of votes in the northern red wall.The party is more than 20 points behind Labour, and its own Members of Parliament are pressuring the government to lower taxes in the upcoming autumn statement, a move that is less possible given Hunt's continued employment at the Treasury. 

Cameron, the first former prime minister to return to the cabinet since Alec Douglas-Home in the 1970s, has also been a strong supporter of the UK retaining its commitment to spending 0.7% of GDP on international aid, a commitment Sunak has since junked. 

He will represent the government from the Lords, as former cabinet ministers Nicky Morgan, Andrew Adonis and Peter Mandelson have done before him and will be paid £104,360 but no longer claim the allowance for former PMs.