David Cameron symbolizes “yesterday’s politics”, former chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng has said, as discontent among right-wing Tories overshadowed the former prime minister’s return to cabinet.
“David needs to say early on that he accepts Brexit, because otherwise there is suspicion he will move closer to the EU,” Kwarteng told GB News. “He needs to make a speech or say something to signal that he accepts Brexit,” he added, saying the Conservative party was “now in a very difficult situation” due to divisions.
“Essentially, you’re bringing back someone who hasn’t been a judge for seven years. In fact, David Cameron symbolizes yesterday’s politics: he hasn’t been in government for seven years.”
Criticism of Cameron’s return, which Kwarteng called a “gamble”, has also been voiced by other leading Conservative figures, including Jacob Rees-Mogg, Simon Clarke and John Redwood.
There are also growing divisions ahead of the UK Supreme Court’s ruling on Wednesday on whether the government’s plans to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda are legal. Clarke, another former minister, said on Tuesday he agreed with former business secretary Rees-Mogg’s criticism of Rishi Sunak’s sacking of Suella Braverman as home secretary and the implications of this for the consequences of the decision.
Rees-Mogg drew a distinction between Braverman’s desire for the United Kingdom to reverse Britain’s obligations under an article of the convention and the position of his replacement, James Cleverly, who challenged the conservative right arguing that the UK should remain a signatory to the European convention. on Human Rights (ECHR).
The MP and GB News presenter told BBC Two’s Newsnight: “In the public mind she was in favor of controlling migration, cracking down on crime and tackling protests that intimidated people. The Prime Minister has now sided with non-control of migration and non-toughness on crime. For a Conservative minister, this is a strange position.”
Rees-Mogg claimed the Conservatives risked losing votes to Britain’s Reform Party and said champagne would flow freely at his seat. Its leader, Richard Tice, said Tuesday that hundreds of new recruits had already arrived after a day of what he called “conservative chaos.”
Another Conservative MP, Andrea Jenkyns, published an official letter of censure towards the Prime Minister on Monday. A noted supporter of Boris Johnson who served as schools minister under Liz Truss, she tweeted her letter to the party’s backbench committee in 1922, saying: “Enough is enough… It’s time for Rishi Sunak to go replace it with a “real” conservative. the leader of the party.”
New Conservative Party chairman Richard Holden said Sunak’s reshuffle had created a “very broad team”. Asked about Cameron’s appointment as foreign secretary, he said: “You always want to bring in some experience and, also, you want to bring in younger people like Laura Trott, one of the new cabinet ministers . »
He refused to give his opinion on Braverman’s sacking, but told Sky News she was “totally entitled to her opinions”.