By Ken Afor
The UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has appointed ex British leader David Cameron as the new Foreign Secretary in an unexpected move in his cabinet reshuffle.
From 2010 to 2016, Cameron, 57, was in office as British prime minister. He chose to resign following the Brexit referendum results, with Britain opting to leave the European Union (EU).
He has made an unexpected re-entry to British politics after taking a seven-year hiatus to author his memoirs as well as to commit himself to a number of corporate activities, such as the now-defunct Greensill Capital finance company.
The downfall of Greensill sparked queries as to how much influence former officials can wield over public policy after Prime Minister Cameron persistently reached out to top officials of the government in 2020 in order to support the company.
Prime Minister Sunak announced on Monday that King Charles had given the go-ahead to bestow upon David Cameron a seat in the House of Lords, Britain’s upper chamber, which would enable him to take up a role as a minister even though he is no longer an elected Member of Parliament (MP).
This trails the sacking of Interior Minister Suella Braverman after her criticism of the police putting the authority of the former in jeopardy.
Sunak’s cabinet reshuffling became necessary after his party – Conservative Party was seen to fall significantly behind the Labour Party in the lead-up to next year’s election.
The return of Cameron to government indicated that Sunak aimed to appoint more moderate, experienced personnel rather than please the right-wing faction of the party which had favoured Braverman.
