David Cameron Is Foreign Secretary And James Cleverly Home Secretary: Reshuffle Latest
James Cleverly has replaced Suella Braverman as home secretary (Alamy)
8 min read
James Cleverly has been appointed as the new home secretary, and David Cameron is foreign secretary, after Prime Minister Rishi Sunak sacked Suella Braverman as part of a major Cabinet reshuffle.
The Prime Minister asked Braverman to leave his government on Monday morning and she accepted. Former foreign secretary Cleverly accepted the role as the new home secretary.
Former prime minister David Cameron will make a return to government, appointed as the new foreign secretary to replace him.
In a statement, Cameron said that though he "may have disagreed with some individual decisions", he thought Sunak was a a "strong and capable Prime Minister".
Theresa May, who took over as prime minister after Cameron resigned in 2016, congratulated him on his return to government, praising his "immense experience on the international stage".
Thérèse Coffey has also resigned as Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, saying in her resignation letter to Sunak that she felt it was the "right time to step back from government". Steve Barclay has been appointed as her replacement, leaving the role of Secretary of State for Health and Social Care.
Thérèse Coffey has resigned as Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Alamy)
Victoria Atkins, previously a minister in the Treasury, is taking over from Barclay as the new Health Secretary.
Laura Trott has been announced as the Chief Secretary to the Treasury – the second most important role in the Treasury after the Chancellor – replacing John Glen, who has been appointed as the Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office.
Esther McVey has been made a minister in the Cabinet Office, a role which will see her attend Cabinet meetings.
Braverman's sacking follows a failure to get sign off on a Times article accusing the police of bias in the policing of pro-Palestinian protest marches. It also comes ahead of a Supreme Court ruling on the government's controversial plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda, which government insiders are not confident about.
She also prompted fury among swathes of Conservative MPs by claiming that homelessness was a "lifestyle choice".
PoliticsHome reported last week that Sunak's patience with Braverman was wearing thin after a large number of Conservative MPs complained about her behaviour.
No10 confirmed on Thursday that it had not approved the op-ed by the home secretary before it was published. However, a No10 spokesperson said on Thursday morning that at that point, the Prime Minister still had confidence in Braverman.
Braverman was originally appointed as Home Secretary by former prime minister Liz Truss in September 2022, but resigned just over a month later because she breached the ministerial code by sharing an official document from her personal email address with a parliamentary colleague.
She was then reappointed to the senior cabinet position by Sunak when he became Prime Minister in October 2022.
In the year since, she has been subject to a number of other controversies relating to her conduct: In May 2023, it was revealed that she had been caught speeding by police and had asked civil servants to arrange a private one-to-one driving awareness course to avoid having to do so publicly.
Her comments as home secretary have stoked multiple rows, including her assertion that multiculturalism had "failed" in a speech in the US in September this year.
Braverman's rhetoric around the treatment of transgender people has also been consistently criticised by transgender rights activists.
In a statement on Monday morning, Braverman said: "It has been the greatest privilege of my life to serve as home secretary.
"I will have more to say in due course."
However, not all Conservative MPs have welcomed the prime minister's decision to sack her.
Conservative MP Andrea Jenkyns, who is on the right of the party, posted on X that she supported the ex-home secretary: "Sacked for speaking the truth. Bad call by Rishi caving in to the left!"
Responding to Braverman's sacking, Liberal Democrat Leader Ed Davey said: "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. We are witnessing a broken party and a broken government, both of which are breaking this country.
"This whole sorry saga has shown the Conservative party for what they truly are. An unruly mob more focussed on fighting and undermining each other rather than standing up for their constituents and fixing the country that they have broken."
Steve Barclay has been appointed Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Alamy)
As the reshuffle is underway, Rachel Maclean has also been sacked from her role as Minister of State for Housing and Planning. In a statement on X, she said was "disappointed", but wished her successor well.
Maclean was broadly seen as a proponent of increasing housebuilding across the UK, and had been the 15th housing minister appointed since the Conservatives came into power 13 years ago.
She has been replaced by Lee Rowley, who was previously Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Local Government and Building Safety).
Nick Gibb has announced his resignation as Schools Minister, stating that he will be taking up a new diplomatic role after the next general election.
In his resignation letter, he said that the government had faced with a multitude of challenges, ranging from Brexit and Covid-19 to war in Ukraine and the Middle East.
"I remain an optimist and I believe that the answers to these challenges will be found by thinkers and politicians of the centre-right, but I worry that growing cynicism and hostility to those who stand for election and hold office is damaging our ability to come together to solve problems," he wrote.
Neil O'Brien has stepped down as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Primary Care and Public Health, posting on X that he wanted to return to the backbenches in order to focus on his constituency work and spend more time with his two small children.
Will Quince has also resigned as from the health ministerial team as Minister of State for Health and Secondary Care.
"Having taken the decision to stand down at the General Election and having recently joined the Army as a Specialist Reserve Officer, now feels like the right time to leave HM Government," he said in his resignation letter.
"This will allow me to focus on the final module of training at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst and my duties as a constituency Member of Parliament. It will also afford me the opportunity to spend more time with my family and explore new opportunities."
Victoria Atkins has been promoted as Secretary of State for Health and Social Care (Alamy)
Jesse Norman has resigned as Minister of State for Decarbonisation and Technology in the Department for Transport, saying he was "looking forward to more freedom to campaign on the River Wye and other crucial local and national issues".
Despite being told by Sunak that he wanted him to remain in the role, Jeremy Quin has announced he is resigning as Minister for the Cabinet Office and Paymaster General.
"Thank you for your time this morning and for the reassurance that I could continue to serve in Government," he wrote in his letter to Sunak.
"However, I have decided to step back to concentrate on projects in Horsham."
There will also be change in the Conservative Campaign Headquarters, with Tory MP Richard Holden announced as the new party chair, to replace Greg Hands, who will now be a minister in the Department for Business and Trade.
George Freeman has resigned as Minister of State for Science, Research and Innovation, after serving five ministerial roles under four prime ministers.
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