Cabinet reshuffle: David Cameron makes astonishing return to politics as Suella Braverman sacked

The shock appointment of David Cameron shows some semblance of panic in No10, Ralph Blackburn writes from Westminster, with Rishi Sunak ripping up the script and strategy he unveiled only a month ago. After trying to paint himself as the change candidate going into the next election, that’s all out the window after bringing back the longest serving Tory Prime Minister of the last 20 years. 

Labour were quick to make this point, with Pat McFadden saying: “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. This puts to bed the Prime Minister's laughable claim to offer change from 13 years of Tory failure.”

As part of that claim of change, Sunak scrapped the Northern leg of HS2 from Birmingham to Manchester, which was David Cameron’s biggest infrastructure project. It’s all getting a bit the Thick of It.

Sunak’s clearly trying to win back the centre ground, which has been squeezed by Labour and the Lib Dems as recent by-elections attest. But by doing this he’s junking his current strategy, and looking desperate as he brings in a Foreign Secretary who hasn’t been in Parliament for seven years.

Read the full piece here.

Laura Trott MBE MP has been appointed Chief Secretary to the Treasury.

Victoria Atkins MP has been appointed Secretary of State for Health and Social Care

Richard Holden has been appointed as the new chairman of the Conservative Party.

Earlier we brought you the news that former Environment Secretary Thérèse Coffey had stepped down from her cabinet role - now her replacement has been confirmed.

Steve Barclay, who has served as Health Secretary since the beginning of Sunak's premiership in October 2022, will move to the role in DEFRA.

His replacement in the health department has not yet been announced.

David Cameron's return to frontline politics has shocked the political bubble.

The former PM last sat in Parliament in 2016, when he was an MP for Witney in Oxfordshire.

But just what has he been up to since leaving government seven years ago?

Read more here: Is David Cameron still an MP? Who is new Foreign Secretary, is former Prime Minster a Lord

Thérèse Coffey has stepped down as Environment Secretary as part of the huge cabinet reshuffle taking place in Downing Street at the moment.

She said in a post on X: "I have written to the Prime Minister today to step down from government. It has been a privilege to serve him and indeed 5 Conservative Prime Ministers as a minister. I look forward to continuing to serve my constituents of Suffolk Coastal."

In her resignation letter to the Prime Minister, she wrote: “In my years of service and different ministerial posts, I am proud to have delivered for people, the planet and prosperity throughout that time.”

“Turning ambition into action and delivery has been the hallmark of my service. I want to thank the many dedicated civil servants, ministers and special advisers who have helped me achieve that.”

Her replacement at DEFRA has not yet been announced.

If you like our politics coverage, you can sign up to our weekly newsletter from NationalWorld's politics editor Ralph Blackburn. Ralph is based in Westminster, where he gets special access to Parliament, MPs and government briefings. Sign up to his free weekly newsletter Politics Uncovered, which brings you the latest analysis and gossip from Westminster every Sunday morning.

The reaction from Westminster to David Cameron's return to politics is one of shock. Journalists had a good idea there would be a Cabinet reshuffle today, as Rishi Sunak sought to portray Suella Braverman's sacking as part of a wider restructure.

However no one had any idea that Cameron would return to front-line politics for the first time since he quit as Prime Minister the day after the EU referendum. It might be the biggest dead cat in political history, and has certainly distracted from his rogue Home Secretary.

It's a bold move from Sunak, who has been trying to do something to halt Labour's huge lead in the polls. But this could backfire. In his conference speech, Sunak spent most of it decrying what he called the short-termism of the last 30 years of British politics - Cameron included.

So to bring him back, after basing his entire political strategy around bashing his predecessors seems strange. Not to mention Cameron's involvement in the Greensill lobbying scandal. The former PM has largely managed to avoid questions on this - but now he will be subject to far greater scrutiny.

And what do the right of the party think? Their hero Suella Braverman has been sacked, and centrist dad David Cameron has returned to politics. Sunak's life may be about to get a lot more difficult.

Labour shadow foreign secretary David Lammy has reacted to David Cameron's appointment to government.

He said: "David Cameron was a disastrous PM. This is a last gasp act of desperation from a government devoid of talent and ideas. "Amid international crisis, Sunak has chosen an unelected failure from the past who MPs cannot even hold to account. "

Pat McFadden, Labour's national campaign co-ordinator, echoed Lammy's words, saying that Sunak had said that the former Prime Minister was "part of a failed status quo" during a party conference speech last month.

He added: "This puts to bed the Prime Minister's laughable claim to offer change from 13 years of Tory failure."