Cameron is an experienced politician, which is what Sunak needs at this time - someone to rely on, inasmuch as anyone can rely on anyone in politics.
With proven skills at dodging responsibility, so fitting for the position of Foreign Secretary as Little England shuts out the world and backs away from any responsibility for or assistance in world affairs.
Given the nature of some of our "assistance" over the last 1/4 century the rest of the world may be recalling Attlee's words to Harold Laski.
Cameron is an experienced politician, which is what Sunak needs at this time - someone to rely on, inasmuch as anyone can rely on anyone in politics.
With proven skills at dodging responsibility, so fitting for the position of Foreign Secretary as Little England shuts out the world and backs away from any responsibility for or assistance in world affairs.
Given the nature of some of our "assistance" over the last 1/4 century the rest of the world may be recalling Attlee's words to Harold Laski.
"Thank you for your letter, contents of which have been noted"?
Cameron is an experienced politician, which is what Sunak needs at this time - someone to rely on, inasmuch as anyone can rely on anyone in politics.
With proven skills at dodging responsibility, so fitting for the position of Foreign Secretary as Little England shuts out the world and backs away from any responsibility for or assistance in world affairs.
Given the nature of some of our "assistance" over the last 1/4 century the rest of the world may be recalling Attlee's words to Harold Laski.
"Thank you for your letter, contents of which have been noted"?
I was thinking "a period of silence on your part would be welcome".
Our new Home Secretary is known in some quarters as Jimmy Dimly...
O, and latest news is that Coffey has resigned, saying that it's the right time for her to leave the government. She forgets to say that it was never the right time for her to join the government...
The reshuffling of the deckchairs continues, but I don't think we're any nearer to God.
Our new Home Secretary is known in some quarters as Jimmy Dimly...
O, and latest news is that Coffey has resigned, saying that it's the right time for her to leave the government. She forgets to say that it was never the right time for her to join the government...
The reshuffling of the deckchairs continues, but I don't think we're any nearer to God.
No, just nearer to Starmer (caught between the devil and the deep blue sea). Which is which is left as an exercise for the reader.
Cameron is an experienced politician, which is what Sunak needs at this time - someone to rely on, inasmuch as anyone can rely on anyone in politics.
With proven skills at dodging responsibility, so fitting for the position of Foreign Secretary as Little England shuts out the world and backs away from any responsibility for or assistance in world affairs.
Wait a sec, just finishing my coffee here and getting to the international news ... the guy who gave you the Brexit vote is the new foreign secretary?!?
And I didn't realize cabinet ministers could come from - or in this instance, go to - the House of Lords. Is that weird? Awkward? Or just kind of unusual?
Cameron is an experienced politician, which is what Sunak needs at this time - someone to rely on, inasmuch as anyone can rely on anyone in politics.
With proven skills at dodging responsibility, so fitting for the position of Foreign Secretary as Little England shuts out the world and backs away from any responsibility for or assistance in world affairs.
Wait a sec, just finishing my coffee here and getting to the international news ... the guy who gave you the Brexit vote is the new foreign secretary?!?
And I didn't realize cabinet ministers could come from - or in this instance, go to - the House of Lords. Is that weird? Awkward? Or just kind of unusual?
It's not particularly usual. From what I can gather nothing in the unwritten constitution prevents someone from outside Parliament being a minister, but the ministerial code sort of expects them to be, so they've given him a peerage and sent him up to the Lords.
Wait a sec, just finishing my coffee here and getting to the international news ... the guy who gave you the Brexit vote is the new foreign secretary?!?
The Tory party has finally scraped the bottom of the barrel and has now resorted to the ones that floated to the top.
Cameron did campaign against Brexit. In comparison to the rest of the present Tory Party campaigning against your own referendum and losing looks like sanity and competence.
And I didn't realize cabinet ministers could come from - or in this instance, go to - the House of Lords. Is that weird? Awkward? Or just kind of unusual?
It used to be fairly common I think. The practice gradually died out because of the bad democratic optics, over the course of the last century, but it's never been formally forbidden.
In Cameron's defense, the decision to hold the brexit vote was, technically speaking, not a foreign-affairs screw-up, it was a domestic policy screw-up. He opposed brexit, but hoped that the referendum would crush the idea once and for all. So he essentially misjudged the mood of the eletorate.
In Cameron's defense, the decision to hold the brexit vote was, technically speaking, not a foreign-affairs screw-up, it was a domestic policy screw-up. He opposed brexit, but hoped that the referendum would crush the idea once and for all. So he essentially misjudged the mood of the eletorate.
Yep. Prime Ministers only ever call a referendum if they’re confident the vote will go the way they want it.
To be fair to Cameron he does have some concept of public duty and public service. It says something that Sunak has to dip back to the Cameron era to find a modicum of human decency within his own party.
On the peerage thing, Lord Carrington springs to mind as an example from Thatcher's Cabinet.
The reality is that Boris purged anyone able and capable from his front bench that the only possible way forward for Sunak is to draw on the past.
Our new Home Secretary is known in some quarters as Jimmy Dimly...
O, and latest news is that Coffey has resigned, saying that it's the right time for her to leave the government. She forgets to say that it was never the right time for her to join the government...
The reshuffling of the deckchairs continues, but I don't think we're any nearer to God.
No, just nearer to Starmer (caught between the devil and the deep blue sea). Which is which is left as an exercise for the reader.
I hear what you say, but what viable alternative to Labour is there? The LibDems have been doing well, but it seems unlikely that they will be strong enough to form a government, come the next General Election.
The thought of the loathsome tories continuing to shit all over us is indescribably horrible...
Cameron is an experienced politician, which is what Sunak needs at this time - someone to rely on, inasmuch as anyone can rely on anyone in politics.
With proven skills at dodging responsibility, so fitting for the position of Foreign Secretary as Little England shuts out the world and backs away from any responsibility for or assistance in world affairs.
Wait a sec, just finishing my coffee here and getting to the international news ... the guy who gave you the Brexit vote is the new foreign secretary?!?
And I didn't realize cabinet ministers could come from - or in this instance, go to - the House of Lords. Is that weird? Awkward? Or just kind of unusual?
Our new Home Secretary is known in some quarters as Jimmy Dimly...
O, and latest news is that Coffey has resigned, saying that it's the right time for her to leave the government. She forgets to say that it was never the right time for her to join the government...
The reshuffling of the deckchairs continues, but I don't think we're any nearer to God.
No, just nearer to Starmer (caught between the devil and the deep blue sea). Which is which is left as an exercise for the reader.
I hear what you say, but what viable alternative to Labour is there?
A minority Labour government moderated by the humane impulses of the SNP would be nice, but trying to engineer that is a mug's game.
Cameron is an experienced politician, which is what Sunak needs at this time - someone to rely on, inasmuch as anyone can rely on anyone in politics.
With proven skills at dodging responsibility, so fitting for the position of Foreign Secretary as Little England shuts out the world and backs away from any responsibility for or assistance in world affairs.
Wait a sec, just finishing my coffee here and getting to the international news ... the guy who gave you the Brexit vote is the new foreign secretary?!?
And I didn't realize cabinet ministers could come from - or in this instance, go to - the House of Lords. Is that weird? Awkward? Or just kind of unusual?
Our new Home Secretary is known in some quarters as Jimmy Dimly...
O, and latest news is that Coffey has resigned, saying that it's the right time for her to leave the government. She forgets to say that it was never the right time for her to join the government...
The reshuffling of the deckchairs continues, but I don't think we're any nearer to God.
No, just nearer to Starmer (caught between the devil and the deep blue sea). Which is which is left as an exercise for the reader.
I hear what you say, but what viable alternative to Labour is there?
A minority Labour government moderated by the humane impulses of the SNP would be nice, but trying to engineer that is a mug's game.
Well, fair enough - as you say, though, possibly not really likely.
At least today has seen the defenestration of two of the more egregious tories - Braverman and Coffey - who will now doubtless employ their time pissing on Sushi from the back benches.
I apologise for the ghastly mental image this conjures up.
I wonder how much time the pair of them will actually spend in the Commons? Coffey is idle (so it is said), and Cruella will probably be out and about drumming up more support from her adoring swivel-eyed loons.
BTW, rumour has it that Niggle The Garbage may be about to appear on *I'm a Nonentity Celebrity*, so perhaps Cruella will head off down to Oz as well...
I hadn't realised until today that wags on The Platform Formerly Known As Twitter had dubbed Coffey "Nellie the Effluent" which has resulted in the predictable refrain on her departure. Describing the cabinet as a circus seems altogether too generous, however.
Tory MP Andrea Jenkyns - a Boris Johnson loyalist - said she has submitted a letter of no confidence in Rishi Sunak following Monday’s reshuffle.
In a post on X, formerly Twitter, she said:
Enough is enough, I have submitted my vote of no confidence letter to the Chairman of the 1922. It is time for Rishi Sunak to go and replace him with a ‘real’ Conservative party leader.
In a letter to 1922 Committee chairman Sir Graham Brady, Jenkyns said that “enough is enough”. She continued:
If it wasn’t bad enough that we have a party leader that the party members rejected, the polls demonstrate that the public reject him, and I am in full agreement. It is time for Rishi Sunak to go.
Sushi Rinak, your time is up. General Election NOW (or immediately after Yule, anyway).
In Cameron's defense, the decision to hold the brexit vote was, technically speaking, not a foreign-affairs screw-up, it was a domestic policy screw-up. He opposed brexit, but hoped that the referendum would crush the idea once and for all. So he essentially misjudged the mood of the eletorate.
Yes, I followed it pretty closely at the time. It's just a little stunning to this outsider that someone who made such a huge own goal is back in the government. And that someone who so massively misjudged the mood of the electorate comes back when the next general election is coming up. Is he likely to stay in the position through January 2025?
In Cameron's defense, the decision to hold the brexit vote was, technically speaking, not a foreign-affairs screw-up, it was a domestic policy screw-up. He opposed brexit, but hoped that the referendum would crush the idea once and for all. So he essentially misjudged the mood of the eletorate.
Yes, I followed it pretty closely at the time. It's just a little stunning to this outsider that someone who made such a huge own goal is back in the government. And that someone who so massively misjudged the mood of the electorate comes back when the next general election is coming up. Is he likely to stay in the position through January 2025?
I've seen strong suggestions that Cameron's return means that Sunak will be hanging on as long as possible before the next election as he wouldn't have stirred himself for a 5 month stint.
In Cameron's defense, the decision to hold the brexit vote was, technically speaking, not a foreign-affairs screw-up, it was a domestic policy screw-up. He opposed brexit, but hoped that the referendum would crush the idea once and for all. So he essentially misjudged the mood of the eletorate.
Yes, I followed it pretty closely at the time. It's just a little stunning to this outsider that someone who made such a huge own goal is back in the government. And that someone who so massively misjudged the mood of the electorate comes back when the next general election is coming up. Is he likely to stay in the position through January 2025?
Desperation. Sunak needs an experienced politician in the Cabinet, and one that will help to give a more moderate impression after the excesses of Braverman and Patel. Also, Cameron, having made his own goal, will not be in a position to call another such. Sunak might though.
I don't think Cameron went down too badly in Europe (I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong) and there are Party members who will like him and see this as a good thing. It might make them more inclined to vote Conservative at the next election if Sunak can get a few more such on board - God only knows who though.
And I haven't ruled it out that they might well get back in again, though the Cameron influence might put an element of the anti-tents/boats brigade off.
In Cameron's defense, the decision to hold the brexit vote was, technically speaking, not a foreign-affairs screw-up, it was a domestic policy screw-up. He opposed brexit, but hoped that the referendum would crush the idea once and for all. So he essentially misjudged the mood of the eletorate.
Not sure I buy that. Before the whole referendum debacle, Cameron went to Brussels to negotiate a "better deal for the UK". What he got were transparently meaningless gestures, so I find it easy to describe that as a failure of foreign affairs as well as a domestic disaster.
In Cameron's defense, the decision to hold the brexit vote was, technically speaking, not a foreign-affairs screw-up, it was a domestic policy screw-up. He opposed brexit, but hoped that the referendum would crush the idea once and for all. So he essentially misjudged the mood of the eletorate.
The result of the referendum proved that the decision to have the vote was what the people wanted. The screw up was not to have plans in place to deal with the result.
I hear what you say, but what viable alternative to Labour is there? The LibDems have been doing well, but it seems unlikely that they will be strong enough to form a government, come the next General Election.
The LibDems might be strong enough to form a Rugby Union team
To be fair to Cameron he does have some concept of public duty and public service.
That's the chap who wanted to be PM because he 'thought he'd be rather good at it' and spent the years after his resignation lobbying ministers on behalf of a financial firm that collapsed?
That's the chap who wanted to be PM because he 'thought he'd be rather good at it'...?
Actually, I quite sincerely like that answer. If it was given by someone whose politics I support, it would be all the more reason for me to vote for him.
Part of me is speculating that this might be a subtler move by Sunak than the media might suspect, that he's intentionally chosen to appoint Cameron as the ultimate dead cat to spike the capacity of Braverman and lesser mortals to make capital from their evictions.
Part of me is speculating that this might be a subtler move by Sunak than the media might suspect, that he's intentionally chosen to appoint Cameron as the ultimate dead cat to spike the capacity of Braverman and lesser mortals to make capital from their evictions.
You may well be right.
There might not be much time between now and the General Election for Big Lord Dave to prove much of a help, but he probably won't be as much of a hindrance as Cruella and her loons.
To be fair to Cameron he does have some concept of public duty and public service.
That's the chap who wanted to be PM because he 'thought he'd be rather good at it' and spent the years after his resignation lobbying ministers on behalf of a financial firm that collapsed?
Sure, I didn't say he was beyond reproach. In comparison with those who succeeded him though ...
Part of me is speculating that this might be a subtler move by Sunak than the media might suspect, that he's intentionally chosen to appoint Cameron as the ultimate dead cat to spike the capacity of Braverman and lesser mortals to make capital from their evictions.
In Cameron's defense, the decision to hold the brexit vote was, technically speaking, not a foreign-affairs screw-up, it was a domestic policy screw-up. He opposed brexit, but hoped that the referendum would crush the idea once and for all. So he essentially misjudged the mood of the eletorate.
Yes, I followed it pretty closely at the time. It's just a little stunning to this outsider that someone who made such a huge own goal is back in the government. And that someone who so massively misjudged the mood of the electorate comes back when the next general election is coming up. Is he likely to stay in the position through January 2025?
On waking (in Australia) to this news, I admit I was stunned by the idea that the enabler of the greatest foreign policy disaster in a generation would be the new foreign secretary. There was, after all, no good reason to hold a Brexit referendum apart from internal party rivalries. Whether it was a foreign-affairs screw-up or a domestic policy screw-up doesn't seem very relevant. It's hard to see how he will be taken seriously by anyone in Europe, or for that matter the foreign secretaries of anywhere else. Even if he is slightly saner than some of his (now) cabinet colleagues.
In Cameron's defense, the decision to hold the brexit vote was, technically speaking, not a foreign-affairs screw-up, it was a domestic policy screw-up. He opposed brexit, but hoped that the referendum would crush the idea once and for all. So he essentially misjudged the mood of the eletorate.
Yes, I followed it pretty closely at the time. It's just a little stunning to this outsider that someone who made such a huge own goal is back in the government. And that someone who so massively misjudged the mood of the electorate comes back when the next general election is coming up. Is he likely to stay in the position through January 2025?
On waking (in Australia) to this news, I admit I was stunned by the idea that the enabler of the greatest foreign policy disaster in a generation would be the new foreign secretary. There was, after all, no good reason to hold a Brexit referendum apart from internal party rivalries. Whether it was a foreign-affairs screw-up or a domestic policy screw-up doesn't seem very relevant. It's hard to see how he will be taken seriously by anyone in Europe, or for that matter the foreign secretaries of anywhere else. Even if he is slightly saner than some of his (now) cabinet colleagues.
I think this is the problem though - who is there who could be taken seriously?
I don’t think the Brexit referendum was ever originally intended to go ahead. The theory that I heard was that Cameron and his cronies were expecting another hung parliament and to continue their coalition with the FibDems. With coalitions, parties always have to compromise, so Dodgy Dave put the referendum in the 2015 Tory manifesto thinking he’d have to drop it to keep the FibDems happy. When he unexpectedly won a majority he had no option but to go ahead.
He could have delayed holding the referendum for a few years on the basis of their being more pressing business for government. If delayed long enough it wouldn't be the first manifesto commitment that didn't make it through to Parliament.
He could have asked the Eurosceptic wing of his party (with or without input from UKIP) to draw up a manifesto for leaving the EU - including what future arrangement with the EU they'd seek - before putting it to the people.
I don't know why he took the option of going ahead with a vote so quickly. It could be he was so convinced Remain would win that he wanted it out of the way, clearing the issue and shutting up the ERG for the rest of the Parliament. It could be he was scared that not going ahead asap the ERG would hinder the rest of his programme.
Comments
Given the nature of some of our "assistance" over the last 1/4 century the rest of the world may be recalling Attlee's words to Harold Laski.
I was thinking "a period of silence on your part would be welcome".
Oh very good. One might hope that Mordors are closed for Cruella now. But I might be accused of trolling.
Don't let it become a hobbit.
What are you guys tolkien about?
O, and latest news is that Coffey has resigned, saying that it's the right time for her to leave the government. She forgets to say that it was never the right time for her to join the government...
The reshuffling of the deckchairs continues, but I don't think we're any nearer to God.
No, just nearer to Starmer (caught between the devil and the deep blue sea). Which is which is left as an exercise for the reader.
Wait a sec, just finishing my coffee here and getting to the international news ... the guy who gave you the Brexit vote is the new foreign secretary?!?
And I didn't realize cabinet ministers could come from - or in this instance, go to - the House of Lords. Is that weird? Awkward? Or just kind of unusual?
It's not particularly usual. From what I can gather nothing in the unwritten constitution prevents someone from outside Parliament being a minister, but the ministerial code sort of expects them to be, so they've given him a peerage and sent him up to the Lords.
Cameron did campaign against Brexit. In comparison to the rest of the present Tory Party campaigning against your own referendum and losing looks like sanity and competence.
It used to be fairly common I think. The practice gradually died out because of the bad democratic optics, over the course of the last century, but it's never been formally forbidden.
In Cameron's defense, the decision to hold the brexit vote was, technically speaking, not a foreign-affairs screw-up, it was a domestic policy screw-up. He opposed brexit, but hoped that the referendum would crush the idea once and for all. So he essentially misjudged the mood of the eletorate.
Yep. Prime Ministers only ever call a referendum if they’re confident the vote will go the way they want it.
On the peerage thing, Lord Carrington springs to mind as an example from Thatcher's Cabinet.
The reality is that Boris purged anyone able and capable from his front bench that the only possible way forward for Sunak is to draw on the past.
This is a government in melt down.
I hear what you say, but what viable alternative to Labour is there? The LibDems have been doing well, but it seems unlikely that they will be strong enough to form a government, come the next General Election.
The thought of the loathsome tories continuing to shit all over us is indescribably horrible...
A minority Labour government moderated by the humane impulses of the SNP would be nice, but trying to engineer that is a mug's game.
Well, fair enough - as you say, though, possibly not really likely.
At least today has seen the defenestration of two of the more egregious tories - Braverman and Coffey - who will now doubtless employ their time pissing on Sushi from the back benches.
I apologise for the ghastly mental image this conjures up.
BTW, rumour has it that Niggle The Garbage may be about to appear on *I'm a Nonentity Celebrity*, so perhaps Cruella will head off down to Oz as well...
There would need to be a lot more to have any real effect though.
Tory MP Andrea Jenkyns - a Boris Johnson loyalist - said she has submitted a letter of no confidence in Rishi Sunak following Monday’s reshuffle.
In a post on X, formerly Twitter, she said:
Enough is enough, I have submitted my vote of no confidence letter to the Chairman of the 1922. It is time for Rishi Sunak to go and replace him with a ‘real’ Conservative party leader.
In a letter to 1922 Committee chairman Sir Graham Brady, Jenkyns said that “enough is enough”. She continued:
If it wasn’t bad enough that we have a party leader that the party members rejected, the polls demonstrate that the public reject him, and I am in full agreement. It is time for Rishi Sunak to go.
Sushi Rinak, your time is up. General Election NOW (or immediately after Yule, anyway).
Yes, I followed it pretty closely at the time. It's just a little stunning to this outsider that someone who made such a huge own goal is back in the government. And that someone who so massively misjudged the mood of the electorate comes back when the next general election is coming up. Is he likely to stay in the position through January 2025?
I've seen strong suggestions that Cameron's return means that Sunak will be hanging on as long as possible before the next election as he wouldn't have stirred himself for a 5 month stint.
Desperation. Sunak needs an experienced politician in the Cabinet, and one that will help to give a more moderate impression after the excesses of Braverman and Patel. Also, Cameron, having made his own goal, will not be in a position to call another such. Sunak might though.
I don't think Cameron went down too badly in Europe (I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong) and there are Party members who will like him and see this as a good thing. It might make them more inclined to vote Conservative at the next election if Sunak can get a few more such on board - God only knows who though.
And I haven't ruled it out that they might well get back in again, though the Cameron influence might put an element of the anti-tents/boats brigade off.
Not sure I buy that. Before the whole referendum debacle, Cameron went to Brussels to negotiate a "better deal for the UK". What he got were transparently meaningless gestures, so I find it easy to describe that as a failure of foreign affairs as well as a domestic disaster.
Desperation mixed with insanity, indeed.
The result of the referendum proved that the decision to have the vote was what the people wanted. The screw up was not to have plans in place to deal with the result. The LibDems might be strong enough to form a Rugby Union team
He prefers Lord Dave, but his chums can just call him Dave,
The last wisp of breath has left the body of satired.
Yes, I know - be careful what you wish for, but surely this crowd of zombies should be put out of its (or our) misery as soon as possible.
They can start by sacking themselves.
That's the chap who wanted to be PM because he 'thought he'd be rather good at it' and spent the years after his resignation lobbying ministers on behalf of a financial firm that collapsed?
Edited to say I mean Gamma Gamaliel's statement.
Every cloud has a silver lining ...
Quite. Right now I'd settle for a minister with common sense. Instead we have a minister for tilting at windmills.
She’ll probably put a statement any minute now about how she’s battled for the right to say Merry Christmas instead of Happy Holidays.
Actually, I quite sincerely like that answer. If it was given by someone whose politics I support, it would be all the more reason for me to vote for him.
You may well be right.
There might not be much time between now and the General Election for Big Lord Dave to prove much of a help, but he probably won't be as much of a hindrance as Cruella and her loons.
Sure, I didn't say he was beyond reproach. In comparison with those who succeeded him though ...
Especially if the highlight of your parliamentary CV is a brief stint in the Department for Education.
Otherwise social media will have a field day with the GCSE marking descriptors and the letter's use as in "spot the grammatical error" exercises.
To whom or what are you referring here?
It might be dead catting this: https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-67385385
On waking (in Australia) to this news, I admit I was stunned by the idea that the enabler of the greatest foreign policy disaster in a generation would be the new foreign secretary. There was, after all, no good reason to hold a Brexit referendum apart from internal party rivalries. Whether it was a foreign-affairs screw-up or a domestic policy screw-up doesn't seem very relevant. It's hard to see how he will be taken seriously by anyone in Europe, or for that matter the foreign secretaries of anywhere else. Even if he is slightly saner than some of his (now) cabinet colleagues.
I think this is the problem though - who is there who could be taken seriously?
He could have delayed holding the referendum for a few years on the basis of their being more pressing business for government. If delayed long enough it wouldn't be the first manifesto commitment that didn't make it through to Parliament.
He could have asked the Eurosceptic wing of his party (with or without input from UKIP) to draw up a manifesto for leaving the EU - including what future arrangement with the EU they'd seek - before putting it to the people.
I don't know why he took the option of going ahead with a vote so quickly. It could be he was so convinced Remain would win that he wanted it out of the way, clearing the issue and shutting up the ERG for the rest of the Parliament. It could be he was scared that not going ahead asap the ERG would hinder the rest of his programme.