The Scotsman Bulletin Monday November 13 2023 #DavidCameron
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00 [Music]
00:06 Hello and welcome to the Scotsman's Daily Bulletin for Monday. I'm Alan Young, I'm Deputy Editor of the Scotsman,
00:13 joined today by our Westminster correspondent Alex Brown on quite a day in Downing Street. Hi Alex.
00:20 Good morning.
00:21 So, incredible development so far this morning. I know that you're manning the live blog on our website at the moment.
00:29 Just to recap, Sweller Braverman sacked as Home Secretary. Perhaps not a huge surprise, and then the mother of all surprises.
00:38 Bring us up to date.
00:40 So, I like to think that I'm relatively clued in when it comes to Westminster. You know, MPs have an idea.
00:45 They've been talking about possible people to come in and replace Sweller Braverman.
00:49 We heard about Oliver Dowden, we heard about James Cleverley.
00:52 Just, you know, these ideas. As it was, it ended up being James Cleverley who went in to replace the Home Secretary,
01:00 leaving a vacancy at Foreign Secretary.
01:03 We weren't sure who was going to get it, but it's a name that's not even an MP.
01:07 It's David Cameron, the former Prime Minister and leader of the party has come back.
01:11 He's been made a live peer, given the baronry of the United Kingdom, which I don't think any of us have ever heard of,
01:19 and is now the Foreign Secretary. It is one of the most extraordinary political comebacks I can remember,
01:26 and is only going to infuriate many members of the Tory party who still see him as part of that remain-block,
01:32 anti-Red Wall elite. I think it's fascinating.
01:35 And Rishi Sunak has done so much to portray himself as this change candidate,
01:40 and he's now bringing back someone who was Prime Minister for six years and leader of the Tory party for 11.
01:45 It is astonishing. Often, you know, in politics, we kind of go, this is an interesting thing,
01:51 and we have to try and convey why it's important to the reader.
01:54 But now we have someone who, let's not forget, was in trouble for lobbying the Treasury in Downing Street
02:00 without disclosing that he was doing that. And he's criticised HS2 and has criticised the government's approach on China.
02:09 And isn't even an MP. He won't be able to go to the Commons to make statements,
02:13 which also means MPs won't be able to ask him questions in the Commons.
02:17 He's only been given a life period so he can attend Cabinet. This is remarkable.
02:22 I mean, this is just words flowing out because it is truly one of the most astonishing stories I think of the year.
02:29 Yeah. And it's not unprecedented for this to happen. For someone who isn't an MP to be in the Cabinet,
02:35 it's not unprecedented for a former Prime Minister to be brought back into the Cabinet when the going gets tough.
02:42 But as you say, you would expect that, you would possibly expect that to happen when the former Prime Minister is particularly popular with the party
02:55 and with his colleagues and indeed with the country. David Cameron surely is remembered as the man who caused Brexit.
03:04 Yeah, which Rishi Sunak was obviously at odds with Cameron on that issue.
03:09 He was a huge hardline Brexiteer himself. And while it's not unprecedented,
03:14 I don't think there's been a foreign secretary peer for 40 years.
03:19 So it's, you know, it's a pretty seismic change and it's one that's just going to irritate so many members of the party.
03:27 And imagine that you're a Conservative MP, you've supported the party line,
03:31 you followed when it wanted to support Chris Pincher, when it, you know, hardline votes on Brexit.
03:38 You've done good, you know, you're backed Rishi Sunak.
03:41 And now he's gone all these MPs that I have, all of these options I could have to make foreign secretary,
03:46 to give one of the great offices of state, one of the four great offices, one of the most prestigious roles in government.
03:51 And what I imagine many people go into politics dream of one day doing.
03:56 And instead he's looked at his party and gone, none of my MPs are good enough.
04:00 I'm going to give it to someone who's not even in politics at the moment and had resorted to going on podcasts and give that job to themselves.
04:07 It is absolutely extraordinary.
04:11 So to ask you the impossible question, then, Alex, which is, well, what is he thinking?
04:17 Getting rid of Suella Braverham is always going to cause him huge problems with the right of the party.
04:24 And you would potentially expect him to bring in someone who is more sympathetic to that wing of the party.
04:31 Whereas Cameron's going to be the opposite.
04:34 Cameron obviously is incredibly experienced and has won numerous elections.
04:41 He's one of most successful conservative leaders, at least of my lifetime.
04:45 And the thinking probably is he's got the know how.
04:49 He managed to impress the country before and given his status as a prime as a former prime minister,
04:55 sending him off to different countries, they'll know him.
04:57 They will be impressed that they are dealing with David Cameron.
05:00 I mean, not to make it all about celebrity, but partly, you know, if you're a smaller country having the foreign secretary visit and you go, oh, it's David Cameron, used to run Britain.
05:08 I mean, that that itself is prestigious. But I also think it's worth noting the thinking for so long has been the Tory party has talked about how it's progressive and it has given these great roles to women.
05:19 Now, all four main offices are held by men. So that's something else.
05:23 I don't think the party should get away with not being called out on.
05:27 But, yeah, it will be thinking about his clout, thinking about his profile.
05:31 And I suppose thinking he won before, if I can get the Brexiteers to back me, or maybe I can rebrand as a small sort of small C conservatism that he found so successful.
05:45 Moving away from David Cameron, if we can, for a minute, although he is going to dominate, obviously, the story throughout the day.
05:53 But what else are we expecting to happen today? It does look like it's going to be a wider reshuffle.
05:59 Yeah, I mean, it's unclear yet. I mean, we've had a few junior ministers stand down in Nick Gibb and Neil O'Brien who stood down, but they were choices.
06:09 I think they were saying, I want to focus on my constituency work. I've enjoyed doing this, but I want some time away.
06:14 So there'll be appointments there. But we have had no insight or guidance on other people being moved around at the moment.
06:22 And I think it's incredibly hard because all MPs want to talk about, at least in my experiences on the rounds this morning, is David Cameron and either their joy or white hot anger at Miss Braithwaite being ousted.
06:34 So I would love to sell you, but I don't think even Downing Street know.
06:38 And I spoke to someone yesterday because there was this tweet during the rounds of the Downing Street grid, which is pretty sparse.
06:45 And I spoke to two people in Downing Street who said, you know, it's possible, but at the moment there aren't plans for a reshuffle.
06:52 There is an idea that maybe we'll just show we're more hardline on the police and Bradman will stay in post.
06:58 I mean, these are people who are incredibly helpful on so many things.
07:02 So to have an idea of what's happening would require Downing Street to have an idea of what's happening, which I just don't think there is at the moment.
07:11 It's pandemonium. I mean, this was so left field.
07:14 I don't know how they could devote any energy elsewhere. So I'm not expecting sweeping changes.
07:19 Anything that could happen would might be some clearing of the deadwood.
07:22 Your Therese Coffey, I think, was someone rumoured to be going, you know, very close to trust and not someone who I think we should be particularly impressed with as a media performer or indeed as a minister.
07:34 But beyond that, they're making it up as they go along.
07:38 Who knows? Absolutely. Just on the practicalities then. So David Cameron is going to be hurriedly sworn into the House of Lords so that he can take up this position.
07:49 And when the foreign secretary is expected to come to Parliament and make a statement on a big world event, will that happen in the House of Lords or does he get a junior minister to do that?
08:03 I think the tendency has been to have a junior minister do it because MPs have to hear it first before the Lords.
08:09 So when I can't remember his name, he was the Brexit secretary who was a Barclay, a Brexit secretary who was given a role by Boris and was just given a peerage.
08:21 He couldn't come to Commons either. So there would always be statements by junior ministers in the House.
08:27 So it was frost, Lord Frost. So I would imagine we'll just hear it in the Commons from someone else.
08:33 We'll have to face questions, which I suppose isn't that similar to Suella Braverman in her past role, because when she was in trouble, she wouldn't show up to urgent questions.
08:42 She's a junior minister as well. So. Great.
08:46 Look, Alex, I'll let you get back to it. More developments are imminent.
08:51 You can follow all the very latest news and analysis at scotsman.com throughout the day.
08:57 If you can, please do subscribe and you will not miss a thing.
09:00 And as ever, if you're out and about today, please do also pick up a copy of the paper from me and from Alex.
09:06 It's bye for now.
09:07 [MUSIC]