The job offer that stunned Westminster was made face-to-face last Tuesday evening in the flat at Number 11 Downing Street.
Rishi Sunak and David Cameron were alone. The location had been picked for its privacy, given that a gathering in his office on the ground floor of Downing Street would have set tongues wagging.
Mr Sunak had a proposal for his predecessor: a return to the Cabinet as foreign secretary, plus an elevation to the Upper House as a peer of the realm.
That the news did not leak is testament to the Prime Minister’s small, close-knit inner circle of trusted advisers and the seriousness with which the now Lord Cameron took the offer.
The timing is also telling for another reason. Suella Braverman’s provocative article in The Times accusing the police of bias was not published online until Wednesday evening.
Once Nigel’s won the jungle there’s a job for him to do then.
MORAL DILEMMA:
If you saw a Tory MP standing in the middle of the road, in distress on a dark and rainy night, would you stop your car?
I would, but only because my car hammer is in the boot.
Any idea why Farage is doing the stupid jungle thing? Is it a cunning strategy to neutralise hostile media coverage by letting the public see him as a normal human being? Or has he just succumbed to the temptation to take the easy option and make lots of money being a celeb?
Suella Braverman’s provocative article in The Times
Telling the truth makes you unfit to be part of the ‘British’ government, but fucking a pig is a career booster.
Cameron, Cameron …?
I know, the arsehole who contributed so much to the ruin of Libya and wanted to do the same to Syria until the Commons stopped him. That Cameron?
Hang the fucker.
I believe there are 1.5m reasons. I would too, for that much.
Dearieme – Yes, the same Dave Cameron who destroyed Libya for no good reason and allowed ISIS to take over, open up slave markets, burn infidels alive in cages, millions of rapefugees flooding Europe, etc.
That’s Lord Cameron to you, pleb.
Do you have a car hammer?
“Or has he just succumbed to the temptation to take the easy option and make lots of money being a celeb?”
This.
I don’t think anyone’s coming to save us bros.
I don’t think anyone’s coming to save us bros.
They never were.
If you want saving, save yourself.
Steve,
If anyone western takes the rap for ISIS it’s Obama. Set his red lines, refused to uphold them.
BiP – Obama never seemed that interested in foreign wars, not that that stopped him signing off on them once he was installed.
Libya was David Cameron and that French midget’s idea. If you’ll remember, the RAF quickly ran out of missiles – another embarrassing failure they have never corrected. Although they did find time to chase white men out of the service.
Silverite – what is it you want to save?
My children understand very well what good is and who their enemies are. I can’t save England, but I can make sure we’re not raising victims or slaves.
If you saw a Tory MP standing in the middle of the road, in distress on a dark and rainy night, would you stop your car?
No need, as Maggie famously said:
I might want to make sure by driving up and down a few times.
Steve
I would say this:
1. I think the likes of Klaus Schwab and George Soros have an agenda which is both humane and a powerful antidote to populism. The notion of owning nothing is one I’m quite happy with
2. As an example of how well run government in the modern age is, We can look at the superb prosecution of the Ukraine War with clear goals and a well defined endgame which is being executed in textbook fashion
3. ‘Climate change’ is a clear and present danger which will destroy life as we know it. Unlimited migration of people who openly denigrate the UK and its way of life is atonement for both Slavery and the Industrial revolution and just punishment
4. I have just seen a number of Porcine flyers coming up the Thames towards you
5. I’ll be private messaging you to sell you a number of bridges that I have just happened to come into possession of
I think if you look at Cameron, May and Sunak they’ll be indistinguishable on points 1 to 3 and would also say 5 if they could.
As you say, all you can do is look to your own family and keep them as safe as possible
Chernyy D,
That was the point I was trying.. ah forget it.
It’s not “plus an elevation to the Upper House”, it’s “requiring an elevation to the Upper House”. Sheesh, don’t journalists know basic facts any more?
The name’s spelt Camoron.
Amazing that we’re getting all these well-informed accounts from “insider” Westminster journos, but not one of them had the foresight to predict Cameron’s return. Just like Nick Robinson’s now discredited claim to Dorries that he had in fact seen Boris’s non-existent wallpaper, this is just made-up shite. Kids who got praise for essays at Uni, and never grew out of it.
The Moron is one of the finest proofs of my contention People seek to maximise what they perceive as their own personal advantage currently going. Along with his sidekick Gideon. But what is his personal advantage here? It can’t be just the vermin. The Tory party is at the crash & burn stage. What possible advantage can there be, apart from distancing oneself from it as far as possible? Is this early onset Alzheimer’s? Does he think it’s still 2006?
@BiS: Does he think it makes it less likely he’ll be arrested?
BiND – what if it’s Michael Gove though.
The little fucker probably regenerates lost limbs, like other reptiles do.
VP – definitely, and Theresa May in particular is a very bad one.
There’s something of the night about that woman. Despite being consistently unpopular and useless, she is loved by prime ministers, presidents and royalty. They can’t get enough of the festering old minge. Something’s not right.
In 2023, only the most evil are that feted. The very worst scum are Lords, Sirs, Rt Hons and OBE’s.
On fatherhood. Have you ever read Cormac McCarthy’s The Road? It contains the best summary of the duties of fathers I have ever seen in literature:
My job is to take care of you.
I was appointed to do that by God.
I will kill anyone who touches you.
Do you understand?
They do understand.
Isn’t Robinson usually referred to as “Toenails”? From his habit of brown-nosing his way so far up his favoured politicians’ arses, they’re the only parts of him visible? I think a lot of these stories are crafted post-event in an attempt to show how genius/despicable/whatever the subject is & how perceptive the journalist. Reality’s a long way removed
BiS – But what is his personal advantage here
Putting the vermin in ermine is to his advantage.
It’s all a bit mystifying, but I think the bet here is that Sunak is attempting to repair the Party’s relationship with the rest of the establishment, and sod the voters, where he’s probably pure poison. Seems somewhat akin to Starmer suddenly slinging a Shadow Cabinet position the way of Blair or Mandelson.
Cameron is probably the only recognisable (ex-PM and all that) senior Conservative figure not associated with events post 2016, given that he chose to run away. As Foreign Secretary, he’s largely out of sight and out of mind for all the domestic stuff, but the bet is probably on a Democrat victory in 2024 (Obama was President for the entirety of Cameron’s term), what with Ukraine and Israel/Gaza rumbling on, plus China, and most likely, something else to come hurtling out of the woodwork. So positioning. As such, I wouldn’t be surprised if some “advice” came out of the Cabinet Office for the appointment.
I’d also imagine that Cameron would be able to wield some influence over elements of rest of the parliamentary party, possibly even stem the flow of MP’s announcing that they’ll be stepping down at the election.
If it’s none of that, then I don’t have a fucking scooby.
@jgh
Rather surprisingly, you’re flat out wrong on this one and the journalist is quite correct to say “plus” elevation to the Lords. Such elevation isn’t required at all – Cameron could instead have been appointed on an interim basis until a safe seat in the Commons is found for him. It used to be quite a common practice to persuade a seat-warming backbencher to trot off (to some plum job or the Lords) so a big-hitter who’d had the misfortune to lose their seat can get back in. It’s perfectly possible to be a cabinet minister while waiting for this arrangement to come through. You can even be Prime Minister while outside both Lords and Commons. Lord Home moved from the Lords to the Commons while in office, which included a period outside either.
The idea that ministers should be recruited from either the Commons or Lords is known as the “Peel convention” but it’s one of those conventions in which a fair amount of flexibility can be seen in practice. A good comparison is Patrick Gordon Walker. Labour got into government for the first time in 13 years by winning the general election held on 15 October 1964, but Gordon Walker lost his seat. Nevertheless he was appointed Foreign Secretary on 16 October! Presumably because of his experience as Secretary of State for Commonwealth Relations in the Attlee administration. He continued as Foreign Secretary for months, ultimately resigning in late January 1965 after failing to return to the Commons in the Leyton by-election. (Which had been set up to get him back in – it was a supposedly safe seat, which Reginald Sorensen had held as Leyton or Leyton West since 1935. Sorensen was promoted to the Lords to make room for Gordon Walker. Sorensen was also an interesting chap, a pacifist secularist who was part of the Parliamentary Peace Aims Group, which aimed for a negotiated peace between Britain and Nazi Germany to end WW2. Once elevated to the Lords, he campaigned for the government to “positively encourage sterilisation, here and elsewhere, of those who are physically or mentally unfit”.)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrick_Gordon_Walker
New pub quiz (trick) question. Who was the most recent person to become a cabinet minister without being a member of the commons?
Out of interest, who was the last one before the current one? Has it happened in the last 50 years?
But what is his personal advantage here? It can’t be just the vermin.
The Tory govt. has about a year, and it’s not impossible given the reality of Labour that they might still manage to scrape through for more. Dave is Foreign Secretary. Dave does a lot of foreign business. Dave can convince some number of foreigners that he has some influence to sell.
William Hague has been lobbying for Cameron’s return to government for several years. Naturally, he doesn’t mention this in his fawning article in The Times…
Pass me a sick bag, please.
The Torygraph is currently running this story:
Lord Heseltine: Cameron’s return has saved Tories from ‘great lurch to the Right’
Would have thought a great lurch to moderately left of centre would have been barely credible.
Right…. Any thoughts here on Popcorn Futures?…
It’s almost a shame to associate a Classic with this particular situation, since the gents themselves would probably have had a field day with this, but…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQqC6_6Wf0M
“Lord Heseltine” should stop worrying about the EU, and start worrying about the fact that he’s going to Hell soon.
Peter Carrington comes to mind. 40 years back, FS. But I think the correct answer might well be Lord Chancellor before the Bair reforms….
PJF – The Tory govt. has about a year, and it’s not impossible given the reality of Labour that they might still manage to scrape through for more.
Mate, they managed to turn a week of Labour turmoil over Gaza and very unpopular (with Tory voters, Blue Labour voters and virtually the entire non-Guardian reading white and Hindoo population) pro-Hamas marches across the country into a big, fat loss for the Tories.
Sacking Braverman buys him nothing and loses him plenty. She was a bit of dangling gammonbait, he needs every lure he can fashion.
Before the latest wheeze of bringing back an unpopular and corrupt ex-PM nobody but Hezza (demented never-was loser from 1990) and Hague (λ) likes or respects, Rishi’s latest great, innovative, election winning ideas were to copy that horse faced twat from New Zealand nobody likes, and talk interminable shite about Maths because Rishi wants us to think he’s a smart guy and not a rich arsehole who got where he is through nepotism.
They’re not going to win the election because they’re more repellent and less trusted than face-eating tropical spiders that offer to bonfire your quangos.
After the Thirteen Year Long Con, it’s testament to the world-beating apathy of the Great British Public that Tory MP’s can still show their faces in public without being chased by angry grannies.
But give it time, the Net Zero has – incredibly – yet to kick in. This time next decade, Rodney, there’s gonna be a lot of people asking questions like “what happened to my hot water and job?” and “what the fuck do you mean, £12,000 heating bill?”.
Unless some future PM defects us to the EastAsia bloc of cheap energy and aggressive heterosexuality? (Presuming: a devastating recession and breakup of the EU plus retrenchment of the Hegemon). Is crazy talk, comrade, da.
The criticism of the Met Police was published on Wednesday evening after No 10 had seen a draft, requested changes, been ignored/over-ridden and Suella had gone ahead despite. That’s a couple of days at least. So Sunak knew on Tuesday morning that Suella was going to publish and he talked to Cameron having decided what he wanted to do if the whole thing blew up in her face.
I do *not* agree that it was just an excuse
@ Steve
You make a lot of points in the usual fun way, but the election is (probably) nearly a year away. All this will be ancient history by then; just another vaguely unpleasant impression to add to the others. We don’t know if Sir Kneel can hold Labour’s thin veneer of normality past today’s vote, let alone keep the frothing down for months to come. With an insane opposition, wider chaos and insecurity works for the bumbling incumbants as much as against them.
It’s going to be the closest Doesn’t-Deserve-to-Win Party vs the Deserves-to-Lose Party clash since forever, with some level of alternative disruption. I see no way to call it this far out.
Camoron: another socialist infiltraitor of Tory party. March through the institutions has won
Five Tory MPs I’ve seen who said Sunak wrong: IDS, JRM, Cates, Jenkins, Kruger
Any others spoken out?
Isabel Oakeshott says William Hague was Sunak’s first choice, but he said no
Refered to this:
lure back disillusioned voters?
Yep, lure back disillusioned red-wall voters to Labour
ICYMI
Suella Braverman’s provocative article in The Times
OT
Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar’s exclusive interview on BBC
@Steve
+1 on all, esp The May Hag
@Anon, November 14, 2023 at 1:55 pm
Thanks. I didn’t know that
@BintFR
Mandelson in Brown’s cabinet
Bloke in the Fourth Reich said:
“New pub quiz (trick) question. Who was the most recent person to become a cabinet minister without being a member of the commons? Out of interest, who was the last one before the current one? Has it happened in the last 50 years?”
The boring answer is that there is (almost) always a non-member of the Commons in the Cabinet, because the Leader of the House of Lords is generally a Cabinet post (usually by co-holding with an automatic Cabinet post, such as Lord President of the Council or Lord Privy Seal).
If you’re looking for a regular Secretary of State from the Lords, the most recent is probably 2020 – Nicky Morgan, who stayed on as Culture Secretary after the 2019 election, despite not having stood, and was put into the Lords to do so (she also has a brief spell when she was in the Cabinet but in neither House of Parliament).
Before that, other than Leader of the Lords, Lord Chancellor or the sinecures, there haven’t been many. I can think of;
– Mandelson and Adonis under Brown;
– Amos under Blair
Then I think you’re back to Maggie – Lord Young and Carrington.
Interestingly Carrington (Foreign Secretary under the blessed Maggie until the Argies got angsty) was not just Foreign Secretary from the Lords, but was an hereditary – probably the last time someone has been, and I suspect the last time one will be, Secretary of State as an hereditary peer.
Arguably then, Cameron did more than Blair to midwife 2020s Britain in all its squalid dysfunction. His was perhaps the last period when the unintended consequences of the Blairite revolution could have been painlessly undone; instead, he bedded them in, cementing Blair’s destructive post-1997 innovations as sacrosanct pillars of the eternal British constitution.
And that’s where we are today. Everything the majority of the British people want is illegal, impossible or racist, but everything Greta Thumberg, George Soros or BLM want is mandatory on pain of menaces.
They’ve (more or less) banned democracy. Now what?
I’m not convinced the Punch and Judy show can continue while the arse falls out of our economy and everything turns to shit. It’s not 2003 anymore, nobody trusts the political process, the government, or the cops. A new government will fix nothing.
We’re no longer living in a high trust, first world society, and that has consequences as the government becomes ever more demanding of what income the proles still have.