UK General Discussion: Rishecession

[Conservatopia]

He needed to sack her before the Supreme Court ruling on Rwanda on Wednesday gave her either a potential win or an excuse to resign. Hence the urgency this reshuffle is being conducted.

[Pericles]

Impressive work by Braverman that she is so toxic that she got both Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak to fire her.

[Torrain]

Sounds like Coffey (DEFRA), and Barclay (Health) are at most risk - the latter because Downing Street thinks Streeting is running rings around him. Some talk about Jack (Scotland), who’s standing down, being replaced too.

TheTide’s point about making space for Hunt to go back to FCDO makes a lot of sense - but it sounds like he’s safe for now.

[Torrain]

David Cameron is in Downing Street.

Surely they’re not sending him to the Lords, right now? FCDO from the Lords?

Big Mandelson 2009 energy

[Zinneke]

Looks like Rishi woke up today and chose violence.

He needs to bring this energy every day, he's probably doomed anyway but at least the public would respect him. Well done!

I want another Boris Johnson Fuhrenbunker situation where Rishi has sacked every MP possible and is holding court with only his Foreign Secretary and Home Secretary who has already declared a leadership bid remaining in Cabinet to sign off on MI5/6 shenanigans.

[TheTide]

David Cameron is in Downing Street.

Surely they’re not sending him to the Lords, right now? FCDO from the Lords?

That could actually lead to enough right-wingers (both on the current frontbench and on the backbenches) voting against the government in a confidence motion to bring it down. Seriously.

It's actually kind of like Starmer appointing Reeves as Shadow Chancellor - in terms of being toxic to a certain section of the party. The problem is that the hard left of the Labour Party was much less powerful (even then) than the hard right of the Tory Party is now. Sunak being too clever by half if this is what is happening.

[Cassius]

David Cameron is in Downing Street.

Surely they’re not sending him to the Lords, right now? FCDO from the Lords?

Big Mandelson 2009 energy

This would be an utterly demented move. Pure self-sabotage.

[Torrain]

Aye, whatever the question is, Baron Cameron of Witney is not the answer…

P*ss off the right, those who think he bungled the referendum (take your pick which one), and anyone who remembers Greensill.

Sure Labour are having a field day, thinking of the ways they can run against the architect to austerity, with a recent lobbying scandal under his belt.

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

Congrats to Suella for perhaps being the first person ever to be fired from a specific Great Office of the State by two consecutive PMs.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Well, this morning does seem like confirmation of the 'desperate writers put together the final season of a soon-to-be-cancelled television drama serial' thesis.

[Torrain]

Permanent Secretary at the Foreign Office now with Cleverly, Cameron, Sunak in No.10.

[Pericles]

[Hnv1]

Can Sunak survive a leadership challenge? What's the likelihood they finally call for a snap election?

[TheTide]

Kay Burley on Sky News is practically gushing about Cameron's return. Some might recall when she was gushing over him during a televised leaders' debate in 2015, and taking a rather different attitude to Ed Miliband.

[morgieb]

David Cameron is in Downing Street.

Surely they’re not sending him to the Lords, right now? FCDO from the Lords?

Big Mandelson 2009 energy

I feel like it's even more bizarre than Mandelson joining the Cabinet. It'd be like if Major appointed Thatcher in 1996. How often does an ex-PM become a Cabinet minister, let alone one that isn't even in the Commons? I don't think I've heard of something like that anywhere in the world, at least not in the Anglosphere.

[TheTide]

David Cameron is in Downing Street.

Surely they’re not sending him to the Lords, right now? FCDO from the Lords?

Big Mandelson 2009 energy

I feel like it's even more bizarre than Mandelson joining the Cabinet. It'd be like if Major appointed Thatcher in 1996. How often does an ex-PM become a Cabinet minister, let alone one that isn't even in the Commons? I don't think I've heard of something like that anywhere in the world, at least not in the Anglosphere.

Last time this happened here was Alex Douglas-Home (coincidentally I mentioned him in an earlier post!) in 1970. He was pretty much a stop-gap PM though.

[Torrain]

How often does an ex-PM become a Cabinet minister, let alone one that isn't even in the Commons? I don't think I've heard of something like that anywhere in the world, at least not in the Anglosphere.

We’ve had ex-PMs return as Foreign Sec twice in the 20th century. Balfour at the very start, and then Alec Douglas-Home in 1970-1974.

We haven’t had a Lord as Foreign Sec since Carringdon in the first Thatcher cabinet. He took responsibility for us being caught off guard in the Falklands, and left in 1982.

[Torrain]

https://twitter.com/10DowningStreet/status/1723999892454981680
He looks thrilled.

[TheTide]

This pretty much confirms Cameron at the FCO, surely.

[Cassius]

https://twitter.com/10DowningStreet/status/1723999892454981680
He looks thrilled.

I’m surprised he didn’t say no to be honest, it’s not as if Sunak could have fired two of the four great officers of state in one morning. All I can think of is that this is an effort to build him up into a credible challenger for the inevitable post-defeat leadership election (given how little cabinet experience he has).

[AustralianSwingVoter]

David Cameron is in Downing Street.

Surely they’re not sending him to the Lords, right now? FCDO from the Lords?

Big Mandelson 2009 energy

I feel like it's even more bizarre than Mandelson joining the Cabinet. It'd be like if Major appointed Thatcher in 1996. How often does an ex-PM become a Cabinet minister, let alone one that isn't even in the Commons? I don't think I've heard of something like that anywhere in the world, at least not in the Anglosphere.

Already forgotten Kevin serving as Julia's Foreign Minister? John Gorton also forced himself into McMahon's cabinet for Defence by being elected as Deputy Leader.

[Coldstream]

Bringing back Cameron is so beyond desperate that I completely believe Sunak would do it.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

I feel like it's even more bizarre than Mandelson joining the Cabinet. It'd be like if Major appointed Thatcher in 1996.

Yes, it's much weirder than that. Mandelson was still an active political figure and a high profile one - he was a member of the European Commission - and the surprise about his return was that it was Brown, with whom he had never had an easy relationship, that chose to bring him back.

How often does an ex-PM become a Cabinet minister, let alone one that isn't even in the Commons? I don't think I've heard of something like that anywhere in the world, at least not in the Anglosphere.

The last occasion that the former happened was in 1970 when Heath appointed Alec Douglas-Home as Foreign Secretary. Before then it was when Chamberlain briefly served as Lord President of the Council in Churchill's War Cabinet for a few months before he died in 1940. As to the latter, I'm not honestly sure off the top of my head.

[Zinneke]

It's probably a less enjoyable job as Foreign Secretary but it also potentially boosts his credentials as an experienced head in many regalian positions, and he'll be compared to easily the worst Home Secretary in modern history which is saying something, so he's got a pretty good deal here if he wants to be Tory leader eventually.

[morgieb]

David Cameron is in Downing Street.

Surely they’re not sending him to the Lords, right now? FCDO from the Lords?

Big Mandelson 2009 energy

I feel like it's even more bizarre than Mandelson joining the Cabinet. It'd be like if Major appointed Thatcher in 1996. How often does an ex-PM become a Cabinet minister, let alone one that isn't even in the Commons? I don't think I've heard of something like that anywhere in the world, at least not in the Anglosphere.

Already forgotten Kevin serving as Julia's Foreign Minister? John Gorton also forced himself into McMahon's cabinet for Defence by being elected as Deputy Leader.

Though Rudd at least was still in Parliament at the time and had only been on the backbench for a couple of months, so not quite as bizarre as Cameron joining the Lords. If anything the comparison here is Bob Carr becoming Foreign Minister after Rudd took a kamikaze run at Gillard's job....