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Ex-PM David Cameron appointed foreign secretary in Cabinet reshuffle (www.bbc.co.uk)

submitted 11 months ago by BigChungus@sh.itjust.works to c/unitedkingdom@feddit.uk

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[–] BigChungus@sh.itjust.works 16 points 11 months ago (7 children)

About near fell off my chair in shock at this one - seems like even the news outlets are a wee bit surprised too

[–] tal@lemmy.today 6 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (6 children)

Yeah. I wonder how many PMs have been called back to serve in other minesterial positions after their term as PM is done?

googles

https://www.kentonline.co.uk/news/national/david-cameron-becomes-15th-ex-pm-to-serve-in-later-government-led-by-another-103370/

According to a Government blog from November 2012, 14 ex-premiers have previously come back in a different government role since the 18th century.

Sir Alec Douglas-Home, who served for just under a year as prime minister after taking office in October 1963, was later appointed foreign secretary by Edward Heath.

He held the role from 1970 until 1974 and is the last former PM to return to government under a different leader.

I guess it's not that uncommon. I don't know if we've ever had an ex-President do it over here in the US.

[–] BigChungus@sh.itjust.works 6 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Oh for sure, it’s more about who it is than the fact it’s happened at all. Cameron quietly slipped away after the Brexit vote and used his position to lobby for a number of his business interests, like Illumina. However, a I know a number of Tory voters who still love him and have him up there as the best the party has had in a long time.

It kind of feels like the Tories are scrambling to find a face who a lot of their disenfranchised base don’t immediately hate, especially after Patel and Braverman have been so reviled. It’ll be interesting to see how this plays out before the election - wonder if Cameron has any intentions of running for leadership again.

[–] palordrolap@kbin.social 1 points 11 months ago

wonder if Cameron has any intentions of running for leadership again.

I would not be surprised if that turns out to be the plan.

There's no-one else in their party who's vaguely fit for the job, even based solely on the last few examples they've produced. A cannier eye, even a Tory one, would likely see that their other potential candidates are just as bad.

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