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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Politics
Tom Ambrose and Andrew Sparrow

David Cameron denies lobbying row should rule out return; Esther McVey made minister without portfolio – as it happened

Suella Braverman ​​Rishi Sunak

Closing summary

  • David Cameron has made a stunning political comeback as Rishi Sunak’s foreign secretary in a cabinet reshuffle in which Suella Braverman was sacked as home secretary. The prime minister, who pledged to be the “change candidate” at the Conservative conference just a month ago, turned to his centrist predecessor on Monday to help close the gap with Labour as he confirmed the ministerial team expected to lead the party into the next election.

  • Sunak moved James Cleverly, a moderate who was foreign secretary, to the Home Office, and confirmed that Jeremy Hunt would stay as chancellor, in a clear shift towards the centre ground that alarmed some on the right of the party.

  • Sunak attempted to appease the rightwing of his party by appointing Esther McVey as a Cabinet Office minister. The GB News presenter, who was one of the first to be ousted from the 2019 Conservative leadership race, is reported to have been tasked with leading the government’s anti-woke agenda, acting as a “common sense tsar”. McVey’s appointment, officially as a minister without portfolio, is one of the final moves of the prime minister’s wider reshuffle, which kicked off with Suella Braverman being sacked from his cabinet.

  • Thérèse Coffey resigned from her post as environment secretary. Downing Street released the exchange of letters between her and Rishi Sunak. Coffey, who was deputy PM under Liz Truss, says she is returning to the backbenches because it is the “right time” for her to leave government. In his letter replying to Thérèse Coffey, Rishi Sunak thanked her for her “years of dedicated ministerial service” and her friendship to him personally. She was replaced by Steve Barclay.

  • Richard Holden was made the Conservative party chair, and a minister without portfolio. He had been a junior transport minister, and replaces Greg Hands. Holden was only elected in 2019 and he represents North West Durham, which has been Labour since the 1950s. That suggests his appointment is a concession to the “red wall” faction in the party, who may feel sidelined by the reshuffle.

  • Greg Hands, the former Tory chair, was made a minister of state in the Department for Business and Trade. And John Glen, who was chief secretary to the Treasury, was made paymaster general in the Cabinet Office. Meanwhile, Lee Rowley is the new housing minister, No 10 announced. He was local government minister.

  • New health secretary Victoria Atkins signalled she would seek to resolve industrial disputes with health unions. “Our NHS matters to us all, and I look forward to working with NHS and social care colleagues to bolster services during what promises to be a very challenging winter, cut waiting lists and improve patient care,” she said.

  • Rachel Maclean, the housing minister, said she was disappointed to be sacked. She wrote: “I’ve been asked to step down from my role as Housing Minister. Disappointed and was looking forward to introducing the Renters Reform Bill to Committee tomorrow and later the Leasehold and Freehold Bill. It has been a privilege to hold the position and I wish my successor well.”

  • Meanwhile, Laura Trott was promoted from pensions minister to chief secretary to the Treasury.

  • Francis Maude, who served as Cabinet Office minister under David Cameron, has recommended streamlining the governance of the civil service in a report published on Monday after a year-long review. Lord Maude said the centre of government should be reorganised with a full-time “head of the civil service” role and policy adviser split from the role of cabinet secretary in order to implement widespread change. Describing the current government structures as “opaque”, “unclear” and “archaic”, Maude also recommended giving ministers a greater role in the appointment of some civil servants.

  • 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.”

  • Downing Street implied Suella Braverman was sacked because of the tone of what she was saying, rather than because of a disagreement over policy. The press secretary said: “[The PM and Braverman] had a professional working relationship. Clearly there were some issues around language. The prime minister said he would use some of the words that she’s used before. Ultimately the prime minister reserves the right to change the team sheet at a point where he sees fit. He felt it was the right time to make some changes to his top team.”

  • Rachel Reeves is proposing to shake up Britain’s pension system as part of a three-pronged plan aimed at boosting the economy’s sluggish growth rate if Labour wins the next election. The shadow chancellor wants more of the money saved for retirement schemes to find its way into support for expanding UK businesses, and says her reforms could increase the size of the average pension pot by up to £37,000.

  • Tony Blair has let it be known that he is available if needed to help in an effort to end the growing crisis in Israel and Palestine. His office, however, denied a report in the Israeli press that he had already been offered a specific job. Blair has built extensive contacts in the Middle East, and he worked as special envoy for the Quartet – the UN, the US, the EU and Russia – after leaving No 10 in 2007, trying to build the Middle East economy.

  • The Tory deputy chair Lee Anderson was among those at a meeting of the rightwing New Conservatives group in Westminster on Monday night following Rishi Sunak’s reshuffle. Others in attendance included MPs Sir Simon Clarke, Sir John Hayes and Danny Kruger, PA Media reported. One member of the New Conservatives told the PA news agency the group was “far from pleased”.

  • Tory whip Steve Double has quit his government role to return to the backbenches. In a letter to Rishi Sunak, the MP said he informed the chief whip of his decision in September. Double said: “This is very much a personal decision based on what is right for me, as well as my family and constituents.”

Updated

Four days ago David Cameron was having lunch with friends, including his old cabinet colleague Andrew Mitchell. If the former prime minister knew then that he would be appointed Mitchell’s boss in less than a week – the coup de grace in Monday’s dramatic government reshuffle – he did not let on.

“He didn’t mention anything about a return to government,” said one person who knows what was discussed at the lunch. “But it was clear his appetite for politics was still there.

Downing Street on Monday revealed Cameron would be taking over at the Foreign Office, in the most unexpected political return since Gordon Brown appointed Peter Mandelson as business secretary in 2008. A spokesperson said the prime minister, Rishi Sunak, had approached Cameron with the idea, though would not confirm reports that the offer was made as late as this weekend.

Cameron becomes the third former prime minister to become foreign secretary since 1900, following Arthur Balfour and Alec Douglas-Home, and the third cabinet minister in recent decades to serve from the House of Lords.

Updated

Tory whip Steve Double has quit his government role to return to the backbenches.

In a letter to Rishi Sunak, the MP said he informed the chief whip of his decision in September.

Double said: “This is very much a personal decision based on what is right for me, as well as my family and constituents.”

Updated

The Tory deputy chair Lee Anderson was among those at a meeting of the rightwing New Conservatives group in Westminster on Monday night following Rishi Sunak’s reshuffle.

Others in attendance included MPs Sir Simon Clarke, Sir John Hayes and Danny Kruger, PA Media reported.

One member of the New Conservatives told the PA news agency the group was “far from pleased”.

Between 10-12 MPs were believed to be in the parliamentary committee room.

Updated

Rishi Sunak has attempted to appease the right wing of his party by appointing Esther McVey as a Cabinet Office minister.

The GB News presenter, who was one of the first to be ousted from the 2019 Conservative leadership race, is reported to have been tasked with leading the government’s anti-woke agenda, acting as a “common sense tsar”.

McVey’s appointment, officially as a minister without portfolio, is one of the final moves of the prime minister’s wider reshuffle, which kicked off with Suella Braverman being sacked from his cabinet.

Braverman had long frustrated No 10 with her off-the-cuff comments, but she was removed on Monday for her article published in last Thursday’s Times, in which she claimed there was a “perception that senior police officers play favourites when it comes to protesters” and were tougher on rightwing extremists than pro-Palestinian “mobs”.

Elsewhere in former prime minister news, Tony Blair has let it be known that he is available if needed to help in an effort to end the growing crisis in Israel and Palestine.

His office, however, denied a report in the Israeli press that he had already been offered a specific job.

Blair has built extensive contacts in the Middle East, and he worked as special envoy for the Quartet – the UN, the US, the EU and Russia – after leaving the British premiership in 2007, trying to build the Middle East economy.

A role for Blair would not be rejected by the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. Both the EU and UN have Middle East envoys.

New health secretary Victoria Atkins signalled she would seek to resolve industrial disputes with health unions.

“Our NHS matters to us all, and I look forward to working with NHS and social care colleagues to bolster services during what promises to be a very challenging winter, cut waiting lists and improve patient care,” she said.

“I am also determined to drive forward discussions with striking unions in order to end the ongoing industrial action which has caused so much disruption to patients.”

Rachel Reeves is proposing to shake up Britain’s pension system as part of a three-pronged plan aimed at boosting the economy’s sluggish growth rate if Labour wins the next election.

The shadow chancellor wants more of the money saved for retirement schemes to find its way into support for expanding UK businesses, and says her reforms could increase the size of the average pension pot by up to £37,000.

Jeremy Hunt, the chancellor, will announce plans to lift the economy’s growth rate in next week’s autumn statement but Reeves said the 25 tax increases announced by the government in recent years were evidence of its failure since 2010.

“It is because the Tories have failed to grow the economy that they are picking the pockets of ordinary working people,” she said.

Updated

Rishi Sunak said the cabinet reshuffle had built a “united team”.

In a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, the prime minister said:

Today we have built a united team ready to deliver the changes this country needs for the long term.

Professionalism, integrity and experience – this is a team that will be bold in making the right decisions for our great country, not the easy ones.

Updated

Francis Maude, who served as Cabinet Office minister under David Cameron, has recommended streamlining the governance of the civil service in a report published on Monday after a year-long review.

Lord Maude said the centre of government should be reorganised with a full-time “head of the civil service” role and policy adviser split from the role of cabinet secretary in order to implement widespread change.

Describing the current government structures as “opaque”, “unclear” and “archaic”, Maude also recommended giving ministers a greater role in the appointment of some civil servants.

The government rejected his recommendations with then Cabinet Office minister Jeremy Quin noting implementing them now would “serve to detract from the focus on the prime minister’s five critical priorities”.

Quin explicitly ruled out “a significant restructure of the machinery of central government” or changes to the role of cabinet secretary.

Mike Clancy, the general secretary of the Prospect trade union, accused Maude of proposing the “politicisation” of the civil service.

He said:

While we may welcome some of Francis Maude’s proposals the idea that ministers should be able to politicise civil service appointments is simply wrong. It would remove one of the most essential founding principles which sets us apart from less effective systems of government.

Updated

David Cameron has given his first interview as the new foreign secretary – you can watch it here

Updated

Johnson loyalist Andrea Jenkyns submits no confidence letter in Sunak

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 her letter to the 1922 Committee chair, Sir Graham Brady, Jenkyns said:

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.

She said that forcing Boris Johnson out was “unforgivable enough”, but suggested the PM had then decided “to purge the centre-right from his cabinet and then sack Suella who was the only person in the cabinet with the balls to speak the truth of the appalling state of our streets and a two-tier policing system that leaves Jewish community in fear for their lives and safety”.

She said she submitted her no confidence letter in Sunak “to stand up and fight for true Conservatism”.

Updated

Transport minister Huw Merriman suggested Rishi Sunak’s cabinet is no longer made up of anyone who got their job thanks to the “political machinations of leadership contests” after Suella Braverman’s sacking.

Asked what the prime minister was seeking to broadcast with his reshuffle, Merriman told BBC Radio 4’s PM programme:

Unity, teamwork – these are all people that owe their position to the prime minister rather than perhaps some of the political machinations of leadership contests.

And it gives the prime minister the opportunity to stamp his mark on the cabinet and to promote some fresh talent.

Updated

Esther McVey returns to cabinet as minister without portfolio

Former cabinet minister Esther McVey has returned to the government.

The Conservative account on social media site X said she was a “cabinet minister” without specifying her job.

Downing Street said McVey would attend cabinet as a minister without portfolio.

Updated

Esther McVey reportedly going to Cabinet Office 'to tackle wokery'

At the afternoon lobby briefing some journalists were asking what was in the reshuffle for red wall voters. (See 5.37pm.) We have finally got an answer. Esther McVey, a rightwinger and former work and pensions secretary, has been made a Cabinet Office minister. And, according to a story by Harry Cole and Noa Hoffman for the Sun, she will be “common sense tsar” tasked with tackling “the scourge of wokery”.

God knows what that means, but the Sun seems to approve.

McVey is also a GB News presenter, and she may be the first employee from the channel to join the government.

Last week on GB News McVey was defending Suella Braverman.

That is all from me for today. My colleague Tom Ambrose is taking over

No 10 implies Braverman sacked over 'issues around language', not policy

At an afternoon lobby briefing the PM’s spokesperson (who deals with government matters) and his press secretary (who deals with party politics) have been taking questions on the reshuffle. Here are the main points.

  • Downing Street implied Suella Braverman was sacked because of the tone of what she was saying, rather than because of a disagreement over policy. The press secretary said:

[The PM and Braverman] had a professional working relationship. Clearly there were some issues around language. The prime minister said he would use some of the words that she’s used before. Ultimately the prime minister reserves the right to change the team sheet at a point where he sees fit. He felt it was the right time to make some changes to his top team.

The PM believes collective responsibility is important. And it is important that the government speaks with one voice.

  • No 10 defended the decision not to have a woman in any of the top jobs in cabinet. The press secretary said:

I think you’ll see a lot of women kind of rising up the ranks today. What I will also say is Conservatives don’t tick box diversity. We’ve had three female leaders.

  • Downing Street rejected claims that Cameron’s appointment showed that there was a dearth of talent amongst Tory MPs. The press secretary said:

Obviously at a time of sort of significant global instability, it’s a huge advantage to have someone that brings a huge amount of experience to that role and is already an established figure on the on the world stage.

  • No 10 did not accept that having David Cameron in the Lords would require new arrangements to enable MPs to hold him to account. The Commons speaker, Sir Lindsay Hoyle, thinks new arrangments will be needed. (See 3.49pm.) The PM’s spokesperson said there was precedent for having secretaries of state in the Lords. The last was Nicky Morgan, who was briefly culture secretary in the Lords after the 2019 election. Andrew Mitchell, the development minister, will lead for the Foreign Office in the House of Commons.

  • Cameron will not take his allowance as a former PM (worth up to £115,000 a year) while he is foreign secretary, the spokesperson said.

  • Cameron’s appointment as a peer was vetted by the House of Lords Appointments Commission, the spokesperson said. He would not say how long Holac was given to consider the appointment.

  • No 10 rejected claims that red wall voters were being overlooked in the reshuffle. The press secretary said there were several red wall promotions in the reshuffle.

Esther McVey, the former work and pensions secretary, has arrived at Downing Street, PA Media reports.

People are more likely to view the appointment of David Cameron as a bad decision than a good decision, a snap YouGov poll suggests. But that might say as much about the general disillusion with almost everything the government is doing as it does about Cameron.

Updated

Cameron dismisses suggestions Greensill lobbying record, or being in Lords, make him wrong choice for foreign secretary

David Cameron has recorded a pooled clip with Chris Mason, the BBC’s political editor, which is now being broadcast.

He says he hopes his six years as PM will give him useful contacts and relationships that will enable him to help the PM in his new job. He says he wants to support the PM.

Asked about the Treasury committee’s report saying his lobbying for Greensill Capital showed a lack of judgment, Cameron says the most important job he has done since leaving the Commons is to be president of the Alzheimer’s Research UK. He says he has resigned from that and all his other jobs so he can focus on being foreign secretary.

Asked again about the Treasury committee’s report, he says that was dealt with at the time. He says he is now focused on his one new job.

Q: What do you say to the speaker, who has raised concerns that you cannot be held to account in the Commons?

Cameron says he will be held to account in the Lords. Andrew Mitchell, the development minister, will answer questions in the Commons, he says. He says he will answer questions from select committees. And the government will be accountable at the general election, he says.

• This post was amended on 14 November 2023. Cameron was president of Alzheimer’s Research UK, not the Alzheimer’s Society as an earlier version said.

Updated

This is from Yvette Cooper, the shadow home secretary, on James Cleverly’s appointment as her opposite number. He is the eighth home secretary in eight years, she says.

David McAllister, the German MEP who heads the European parliament’s foreign affairs committee, has welcomed David Cameron’s “surprise” return to the international stage.

He said Cameron would help rebuild the partially repaired relations with the EU. He said:

I have known him for 15 years and I wish him well. He is a very experienced politician and knows the international business of politics, knows the EU and knows the EU institutions and I think he should be given a chance.

On his role in causing Brexit, he said:

He was responsible for the referendum and it turned out the way it did, but to be fair to David he was in favour of remaining in the EU.

McAllister said credit and thanks should also be given to his predecessor James Cleverly, for “improving the relations between the UK and the EU” after two previous prime ministers Liz Truss and Boris Johnson.

The EU’s chief diplomat Josep Borrell has also welcomed David Cameron’s return to British politics as an opportunity to strengthen relations between the bloc and the UK on security and foreign relations in Ukraine, Middle East and elsewhere.

A camera filming the door at No 10 today.
A camera filming the door at No 10 today. Photograph: Stefan Rousseau/PA

Greg Hands demoted from Tory chair to trade minister, and John Glen becomes paymaster general

Greg Hands, the former Tory chair, has been made a minister of state in the Department for Business and Trade, No 10 says.

And John Glen, who was chief secretary to the Treasury, has been made paymaster general in the Cabinet Office.

Lee Rowley appointed new housing minister

Lee Rowley is the new housing minister, No 10 has announced. He was local government minister.

Environmental groups welcome departure of Thérèse Coffey

Environmental groups seem to be taking a “good riddance” approach to Thérèse Coffey’s departure as environment secretary. (See 12.54pm.)

This is from Paul de Zylva, nature campaigner at Friends of the Earth.

Thérèse Coffey’s time as environment secretary was mired in controversy. Her lasting legacy will be the complacency she showed in dealing with the ongoing sewage scandal, which has seen the near-complete deterioration of our precious rivers and seas.

While she did ensure the UK played a positive role in last year’s UN biodiversity talks, she will also be remembered for unhelpful speeches that pitted the interests of farmers, business leaders and environmental groups against each other instead of working to unite them.

Steve Barclay is picking up a brief that has been neglected throughout the majority of his party’s time in office – there is a lot of lost time to make up for. Given the dire state of nature in the UK, he must start by urgently addressing the poor performance of polluting water companies and the regulator Ofwat. He must support farmers to work in harmony with nature and slash harmful emissions, and properly resource and restore trust in the government’s wildlife and environment watchdogs.

And this is from Rebecca Newsom, head of politics at Greenpeace UK.

At the last election, the Conservative party was promising “the most ambitious environmental programme of any country on earth.” Now the in-tray for the incoming environment secretary is filling up faster than a river downstream from a sewage plant.

The issues are stark and require urgent leadership: clean up our waterways, get a grip on plastic pollution, help to deliver breathable cities, ratify the Global Ocean Treaty and make farming deliver for nature. That’s the success we need. So Steve Barclay needs to act fast, because unfortunately the British public are already seeing what failure looks like.

Wes Streeting taunts Tory MPs in Commons, saying Sunak thought none of them good enough to be foreign secretary

Wes Streeting, the shadow health secretary, used his speech in the king’s speech debate in the Commons this afternoon to criticise David Cameron’s appointment as foreign secretary. Addressing the health minister Helen Whateley, Streeting said:

What kind of message does it send to their [Tory MPs constituents] that their own leader cannot find a suitable candidate for foreign secretary among those who sit in this house?

Lord Cameron has a lot to answer for when it comes to the NHS, the architect of austerity, a £3bn disaster that has led straight to the biggest health crisis in the history of the NHS. And that’s before we take into account his record of ushering in the golden age between Britain and China.

I am grateful to readers who have been adding to the list of European former PMs who went on to serve as a foreign minister. We mentioned some at 12.50pm. There is also:

Laurent Fabius, who was prime minister of France in the 1980s and who became foreign minister almost 30 years later;

Bjarni Benediktsson, who is foreign minister of Iceland, after being PM about six years ago;

And Kalevi Sorsa, who was prime minister of Finland three times in the 1970s and 1980s before becoming foreign minister.

Updated

Hoyle to explore how MPs can question Cameron as foreign secretary – and how one solution was floated in 2010

Sir Lindsay Hoyle has told MPs that he investigating how MPs might get the chance to question the new foreign secretary, David Cameron. It won’t happen in the Commons chamber because Cameron will be in the Lords.

Addressing MPs in the chamber this afternoon, Hoyle said:

This is not the first time in recent years that a cabinet minister has been appointed in the House of Lords, but given the gravity of the current international situation, it is especially important that this house is able to scrutinise the work of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office effectively.

I have therefore commissioned advice from the clerks about possible options for enhancing [scrutiny] of the work of the foreign secretary when that post is filled by a member of the other house.

I also look forward to hearing the government’s proposals on how the foreign secretary will be properly accountable to this house.

Peers will, of course, get the chance to question Lord Cameron. But a more junior foreign office minister will take questions from MPs on Foreign Office policy, as happened in the past when the foreign secretary was a peer. (See 1.50pm.)

In fact, there is no need for Hoyle to ask the clerks to produce a briefing on how MPs can hold to account a foreign secretary sitting in the House of Lords. Before the 2010 election the Commons procedure committee produced a report on this very topic, inspired by the fact that Gordon Brown had made two peers, Lord Mandelson and Lord Adonis, business secretary and transport secretary respectively.

The procedure committee pointed out that until the early nineteenth century MPs could question peers by getting them to enter the Commons chamber and stand, or sit, at the bar of the house (the bit near the entrance, facing the speaker’s chair, marked by a thick line in the carpet). But it said that a better option would be to allow secretaries of states in the Lords to be questioned by MPs in Westminster Hall (the mini-chamber used for minor debates).

In its report, the committee recommended trialling this system on a pilot basis. It went on:

If the experiment were considered successful and if it were felt necessary to further develop and strengthen the scrutiny it permitted, there might then be a case for considering more radical options including, perhaps, questions on the floor of the house. Until that point we would consider it prudent to take a measured approach. The experiment in Westminster Hall may reveal new issues, be they constitutional or practical in nature, which could be valuable in deciding whether and how such scrutiny should continue.

Soon after the report was published, the election was held, Mandelson and Adonis lost their jobs, and the idea was dropped. But now there may be an appetite to revisit it.

Updated

Campaigners says it's 'shambolic' UK about to get its 16th housing minister since 2010

The sacking of Rachel Maclean (see 2.01pm) means the UK is about to get its 16th housing minister since 2010. Housing campaigners are appalled, saying the government is failing to tackle problems in the sector because ministers change too frequently.

This is from Polly Neate, chief executive of the housing charity Shelter.

The revolving door of housing ministers over the past decade, and in particular the last 18 months, proves the government’s failure to grasp the scale and urgency of the housing emergency. Rents are rocketing, evictions are soaring and homelessness is at a record high, yet we haven’t had a minister stay in the job long enough to get to grips with the problem.

The 16th housing minister since 2010 has to hit the ground running and the first thing on their to do list must be to pass a watertight renters (reform) bill and scrap no fault evictions.

And this is from Tom Darling, campaign manager at the Renters’ Reform Coalition.

Rachel Maclean attended our events and, though we don’t believe the government are going far enough on rental reform, she was always willing to engage with us – we wish her well for the future.

It is frankly shambolic that we will now be on to our 16th housing minister since 2010, and incredibly 9 just since the government promised to end no-fault evictions.

Now, just before the first day of the important committee stage, which involves poring over the detail of the bill, she is sacked – it makes a mockery of government and shows a shocking lack of respect for England’s 11 million private renters.

Hannah White from the Institute for Government thinktank has a chart illustrating the pace at which the job has changed hands.

Tamara Cohen from Sky News also argues that David Cameron’s appointment as foreign secretary makes an early election even less likely than it was.

Another aspect of the Cameron appointment is it seems to suggest No10 will play it long to the election.

One of DC’s allies says: “he wouldn’t want to do it for five months.”

Updated

Cameron's appointment means Sunak likely to shelve talk of leaving ECHR, says Jo Johnson

Today’s reshuffle means it is much less likely that this government will go into the next election floating the prospect of the UK withdrawing from the European convention on human rights.

Suella Braverman, who has been sacked, was the minister in goverment most in favour of ECHR withdrawal. She is out.

Her replacement, James Cleverly, spoke out against the idea earlier this year, the FT’s George Parker reports.

And Jo Johnson, the former universities minister who was head of policy at No 10 when Cameron was PM, has told Times Radio that his old boss would not be backing the government to put ECHR withdrawal on the agenda. Johnson said:

I can’t really see David Cameron returning to the Foreign Office and the first thing he’s doing is to lead a campaign for us to leave the European court of human rights. It seems to me highly unlikely.

Updated

This is from Adrian Ramsay, co-leader of the Green party, on the reshuffle.

This reshuffle looks desperate and is a sign that Rishi Sunak has run out of talent. David Cameron started the programme of cuts to our public services which has now brought the NHS to near breaking point. Since his disastrous exit he has cashed in on dodgy lobbying for global oligarchs. And on the odd occasion where Cameron did take a principled stand – such as on maintaining the international aid budget – the government has since reneged.

As to the departure of Thérèse Coffey as environment secretary, nature can at least temporarily breathe a sigh of relief as we await to see who replaces her. She put in place a subsidy system which is not working for farmers or the environment, and she has failed to tackle the blight of sewage in our rivers – a situation she herself described as ‘a scandal’ when I challenged her on it at a public meeting in Suffolk last month.

Updated

The outgoing Dutch prime minister, Mark Rutte, is generally not a man of few words. But when it comes to David Cameron he has uttered two more than the vast majority of EU leaders.

The Netherlands was a key ally of the UK in the membership years and a key ally of Ireland and campaigner for a soft Brexit post-2016.

Updated

Laura Trott appointed chief secretary to the Treasury

And Laura Trott has been promoted from pensions minister to chief secretary to the Treasury, No 10 says.

Here is video of journalists reacting as David Cameron arrived at No 10 this morning.

Updated

Victoria Atkins promoted to health secretary

Victoria Atkins has been made the new health secretary. She was financial secretary to the Treasury (a mid-ranking Treasury minister), and so this is a big promotion.

Richard Holden becomes new Conservative party chair

Richard Holden has been made the Conservative party chair, and a minister without portfolio. He had been a junior transport minister, and replaces Greg Hands.

Holden was only elected in 2019 and he represents North West Durham, which has been Labour since the 1950s. That suggests his appointment is a concession to the “red wall” faction in the party, who may feel sidelined by the reshuffle. (See 10.27am.)

As Tory chair, Holden is also likely to be more aggressive than his predecessor in attacking Labour. He did more than any other MP to persuade the rightwing papers that “Beergate” was a major scandal for Keir Starmer – even though a police investigation subsequently established that Starmer had not done anything wrong.

As party chair Holden will be well-placed to find himself a new seat. His current one, where he had a majority of just 1,144 at the last election, is disappearing under boundary changes.

Updated

Steve Barclay demoted from health secretary to environment secretary

Steve Barclay has left Downing Street after being appointed the new environment secretary, PA Media reports. That’s a demotion for Barclay, who was health secretary.

UPDATE: This is from Patrick Wintour, the Guardian’s former political editor.

Updated

Rachel Maclean says she is 'disappointed' about being sacked as housing minister

Several ministers have said today that they voluntarily decided to stand down. It is not always easy to work out whether they really mean it, or whether they have been “encouraged” to conclude that a career change might be advisable.

But one minister happy to admit she has been forced out is Rachel Maclean, the housing minister. She says she is disappointed to be sacked.

I’ve been asked to step down from my role as Housing Minister. Disappointed and was looking forward to introducing the Renters Reform Bill to Committee tomorrow and later the Leasehold and Freehold Bill. It has been a privilege to hold the position and I wish my successor well.

Bronwen Maddox, the director of Chatham House, the foreign policy thinktank, says making David Cameron foreign secretary has obvious advantages, but important downsides too. She says:

The former prime minister will bring undoubted strengths into the top team and to the UK’s relationships abroad. The concern must be, however, that these could be outweighed by the controversial legacy he brings too. And none of that says that he can bring back voters for his party at home.

He brings one clear advantage as Sunak’s new foreign secretary. As prime minister, he was comfortable on the world stage and congenial in the relationships he formed.

There are many countries in relationships that are crucial for the UK who would welcome the arrival of Cameron as a heavyweight and moderate foreign secretary. That matters, with conflicts in the Middle East and Ukraine and a volatile US political climate.

Top of the list of disadvantages is Brexit. Some will remember him simply as the prime minister who chose to hold a referendum he never contemplated losing and comprehensively upended the country’s international relations.

It is entirely within the rules, but given growing public scepticism about the basis for appointments to the House of Lords, it may strike an anachronistic tone.

Maddox also says that changing foreign secretaries this often is a mistake.

James Cleverly, foreign secretary since 6 September 2022, was just getting into his stride.

The role requires building close relationships with counterparts across the world and high commissioners and ambassadors within the UK, as well as knowing the staff of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.

If there is a single reason for the recognised weaknesses of British government in delivering what has been promised, it is the lack of expert knowledge in ministers and civil servants, who rotate between jobs often every year or two. This move, designed to fix problems elsewhere in the cabinet, compounds that problem.

Updated

Precedents for ex-PMs returning to cabinet, and foreign secretaries sitting in the Lords

The appointment of an ex-PM as foreign secretary, and doing the job from the Lords, is unusual, but not unprecedented. Here are some examples of this having happened before.

Previous foreign secretaries in the House of Lords

Richard Toye, a history professor at Exeter University, says there have been quite a few. He says:

In the 19th century, it was quite common for foreign secretaries to be members of the House of Lords. Since 1918, there have been more than 40 holders of the office but only five of these have been peers. These were Lord Curzon (1919-24), Lord Reading (1931), Lord Halifax (1938-40), Lord Home (1960-63), and Lord Carrington (1979-82).

Previous ex-PMs serving as foreign secretary

On the World at One Sir Anthony Seldon, the historian, argued that this happens every 50 years. It last happened when Alec Douglas-Home became foreign secretary under Edward Heath in 1970, having lost the general election as PM in 1964. And Arthur Balfour, PM between 1903 and 1905, became foreign secretary in 1916 under Lloyd George.

Previous ex-PMs taking other cabinet jobs

Ramsay MacDonald, the first Labour PM, was replaced as PM in what was then the national government in 1935. But he stayed on in government as lord president of the council. He was replaced as PM by Stanley Baldwin, who himself had been lord president in the national government despite having been PM twice in the 1920s. And after Neville Chamberlain was ousted as PM in 1940, he stayed in the war cabinet as lord president.

Updated

Jeremy Quin says he has resigned as paymaster general, a minister in the Cabinet Office. He says he wants to focus on projects in Horsham, his constituency, where he had a majority of 21,127 at the last election.

Cameron's appointment as foreign secretary triggers backlash among some Tories

Some Conservative MPs are uneasy about David Cameron returning to government as foreign secretary, according to journalists who have been testing opinion.

Sophy Ridge from Sky has posted a message from one of them describing Cameron as “completely gutless”.

Cat Neilan from Tortoise quotes one Brexiter saying he is “appalled” by the appointment.

Tamara Cohen from Sky quotes Theresa Villiers, the former cabinet minister, saying MPs will want to be assured that Cameron will not reactivate the pro-China policy he implemented as PM.

And, on this point, David Hughes from PA Media says Rishi Sunak’s foreign affairs speech at the lord mayor’s banquet last year criticised Cameron’s record on China.

The Conservative MP Michael Fabricant has also expressed some concern about Cameron being a foreign secretary in the House of Lords.

Cameron will bring much needed heft to the role of Foreign Secretary. But, while not unknown in the past, the appointment of someone not an MP means he will not be accountable to MPs in the House of Commons Chamber. Many will question this.

Updated

Ian Birrell, the foreign correspondent and former deputy editor of the Independent who at one point wrote speeches for David Cameron, has a mixed assessment of his appointment as foreign secretary.

Updated

In his letter replying to Thérèse Coffey, Rishi Sunak thanks her for her “years of dedicated ministerial service” and her friendship to him personally.

Thérèse Coffey resigns as environment secretary, saying it is 'right time' for her to leave government

Thérèse Coffey has resigned from her post as environment secretary. Downing Street has just released the exchange of letters between her and Rishi Sunak. Coffey, who was deputy PM under Liz Truss, says she is returning to the backbenches because it is the “right time” for her to leave government.

Thérèse Coffey’s resignation letter
Thérèse Coffey’s resignation letter. Photograph: No 10

Updated

European ex-PMs who went on to become foreign secretary welcome Cameron to their ranks

Former European leaders who turned into foreign ministers are welcoming David Cameron to their club.

Carl Bildt, who served as Sweden’s prime minister in the early 1990s and then as foreign minister in from 2006 to 2014, posted on X that Cameron “joins the rather distinguished club of former PM’s becoming Foreign Minister.”

This prompted Danish foreign minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen, another former prime minister, to respond: “Perhaps you - at some stage - should organize an informal inaugurating meeting in this club?”

Other ex-leaders who took on lead foreign policy roles include Latvia’s Krišjānis Kariņš and Ireland’s Micheál Martin. Austria’s foreign minister, Alexander Schallenberg, very briefly served as chancellor.

UPDATE: See 3.59pm for more examples of former European PMs going on to serve as foreign secretary.

Updated

Rachel Maclean, a minister in the levelling up department, is being sacked, Harry Cole from the Sun reports.

Updated

The Liberal Democrats are embracing the idea that this is a blue wall reshuffle. (See 10.27am.) A party source told journalists:

This retro reshuffle shows the Conservatives are openly running scared of the Lib Dems in the blue wall.

Bringing back David Cameron just looks desperate. If the Tories think this will save them seats in their Southern Flank, they have got another thing coming.

Blue Wall voters abandoned this chaotic government some time ago and aren’t coming back in a hurry.

Steven Swinford from the Times asks if David Cameron will still be allowed to claim the £115,000 a year allowance paid to ex-PMs to fund their ongoing work in public life now he is back in government.

And Swinford’s colleague Lara Spirit says a “reasonable” compromise has been reached – which implies he will keep some of it.

Updated

Labour says reshuffle shows Sunak's claim to be offering change is 'laughable'

Labour HQ has only issued one statement so far on the reshuffle. This is from Pat McFadden, the party’s national campaign coordinator.

A few weeks ago, Rishi Sunak said David Cameron was part of a failed status quo, now he’s bringing him back as his life raft.

This puts to bed the prime minister’s laughable claim to offer change from 13 years of Tory failure.

The New Conservatives, a newish group of socially conservative Tory MPs who are pushing for lower taxes and less immigration, is meeting this afternoon in the Commons, Sky’s Beth Rigby reports. Its two co-chairs, Miriam Cates and Danny Kruger, have been among Braverman’s strongest defenders. Rigby says their long-term plan to get Braverman elected as the next party leader will be discussed.

Updated

Rees-Mogg claims sacking Braverman will make it harder for Tories to win next election

Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg, the former business secretary, has told GB News that sacking Suella Braverman was a mistake. He explained:

I think, from the point of view of the Conservatives winning the next election, today is a mistake because Suella understood what the British voter thought and was trying to do something about it.

He also suggested that appointing David Cameron foreign secretary could lead to some Conservative supporters backing Reform UK (the new version of the Brexit party) instead. He said:

David Cameron got the Brexit issue wrong in terms of the Conservative party and indeed the country at large who voted to leave but he did give us the choice to have the vote.

Without him we wouldn’t have had that referendum. He is a highly intelligent, capable individual. But will this potentially push some people to Reform is a question for the pollsters.

Updated

In his first comments to journalists as the new home secretary, James Cleverly has said he will focus on stopping the boats and keeping people safe. He said:

[As foreign secretary] I worked very closely with my colleagues in the Home Office, cracking down on illegal migration, reducing the number of small boats arrivals, and now as the home secretary I am absolutely committed to stopping the boats as we promised, but also making sure that everybody in the UK feels safe and secure going about their daily business knowing that the government is here to protect them.

Asked if he wanted to distance himself from some of the provocative language used by Braverman, Cleverly replied:

Well, I intend to do this job in the way I feel best protects the British people and our interests.

Updated

The SNP has joined Labour (see 10.46am) in attacking the appointment of David Cameron as the new foreign secretary. In a statement Mhairi Black, the party’s deputy leader at Westminster, said:

The fact that Rishi Sunak has had to resurrect David Cameron shows how tired this Tory government is. People in Scotland will be appalled that the architect of thirteen years of Tory austerity cuts, and the disastrous Brexit referendum, is back in government.

Journalists in Downing Street covering the reshuffle on Monday morning.

Broadcasters in Downing Street today covering the reshuffle.
Broadcasters in Downing Street today covering the reshuffle. Photograph: James Veysey/Shutterstock

Updated

David Cameron’s former stature on the international stage may mean that he will be a welcome presence in Brussels as the UK’s new foreign secretary.

Some politicians in the EU feel that leadership is lacking, with Emmanuel Macron filling the role of the de facto EU leader as Olaf Scholz is failing to have the same strong presence or to fill Angela Merkel’s boots on the international stage.

But in the immediate aftermath of the surprise news, Cameron is being remembered as the man who caused Brexit, something that still provokes anger here in Brussels.

“People remember him as the man who caused Brexit to save his own government. I think in European eyes he is so much discredited and no one will be keen to deal with him, which of course they will have to,” one senior source said.

Jesse Norman says he has resigned as transport minister

And Jesse Norman says he has chosen to leave the government. He was a minister of state at the Department for Transport.

Very grateful to the Prime Minister for accepting my resignation. Having laid the ZEV mandate and framed the Automated Vehicles Bill, this is the right time to step down. Looking forward to more freedom to campaign on the River #Wye and other crucial local and national issues!

Updated

A reader asks:

How can Cameron just “take a seat in the lords”. I thought there was some sort of process?

There is a vetting process if people are proposed for a seat in the House of Lords in an honours list. There is also a vetting process if a prime minister wants to put someone in the House of Lords to serve as a minister, but it seems to happen very quickly, because the ministerial appointment tends to coincide with the announcement that the peerage has been awarded. No 10 announced today:

His Majesty has also been pleased to confer the dignity of a barony of the United Kingdom for life upon David Cameron.

UPDATE: I have corrected the original post. Previously it said there was no vetting process if someone gets made a peer so they can take up a post in government. This afternoon No 10 said there is a vetting process in this situation, and David Cameron went through it. They would not give details of how long it took, but presumably it was fast-tracked. (See 5.37pm.)

Updated

Will Quince says he is standing down as a health minister at his own request. He says he has already decided to leave the Commons at the next election and that he wants more time to focus on the training he is doing as a specialist reserve officer in the army.

Quince is MP for Colchester. He had a majority of 9,423 at the last election, but the seat was held by the Lib Dems until 2015.

Updated

A reader asks:

Will Andrew Mitchell become the House of Commons lead on foreign affairs?

Good question. We don’t know yet. He was the most senior minister in the Foreign Office after James Cleverly, and so he would be an obvious candidate for that role. But he is another Tory centrist who was in cabinet in 2010 and Rishi Sunak may feel the need to promote someone younger, and more acceptable to the Tory right.

Updated

A reader asks:

Presumably no one wants the poisoned chalice now, but what are the chances of 1922 letters going in from the Braverman rabid right faction? If she waits until after a GE defeat, that means 5 years in opposition, and little chance of unseating Labour in 2029, as either the Tories would lose, or she would have been ditched by then anyway. Is it worth a roll of the dice for her and her supporters? A coup with the chance of improved economic conditions late 2024 to maybe cling on?

I’m sure a few Braverman supporters might send letters to the 1922 Committee chair asking for a vote of no confidence in Rishi Sunak, but you need 53 to trigger a contest and Braverman’s hardcore support base is probably a lot smaller than that. Sunak will know the numbers better than me because he employs people to collect this intelligence; they’re called whips. If they thought sacking Braverman would trigger a leadership contest, she would still be in post.

Nick Robinson, the Today programme presenter and former BBC political editor, has been posting on X about the appointment of David Cameron as foreign secretary.

Updated

Appointment of Cameron as foreign secretary 'act of desperation', says Labour

Labour has described the appointment of David Cameron as foreign secretary as a “last gasp act of desperation”. This is from David Lammy, Cameron’s shadow.

David Cameron was a disastrous PM. This is a last gasp act of desperation from a government devoid of talent and ideas.

Amid international crisis, Sunak has chosen an unelected failure from the past who MPs cannot even hold to account.

Only Labour offers the change we need

Updated

Cameron says as foreign secretary he wants to focus on supporting allies and strengthening partnerships

David Cameron has put a lengthy statement on X about his appointment as foreign secretary. Here is an extract in which he says supporting allies and strengthening partnerships will be a priority.

We are facing a daunting set of international challenges, including the war in Ukraine and the crisis in the Middle East. At this time of profound global change, it has rarely been more important for this country to stand by our allies, strengthen our partnerships and make sure our voice is heard …

Britain is a truly international country. Our people live all over the world and our businesses trade in every corner of the globe. Working to help ensure stability and security on the global stage is both essential and squarely in our national interest. International security is vital for our domestic security.

In a reference to his comments on the scrapping of the Manchester leg of HS2 (see 9.49am), Cameron also praises Rishi Sunak as “a strong and capable prime minister, who is showing exemplary leadership”. He says:

Though I may have disagreed with some individual decisions, it is clear to me that Rishi Sunak is a strong and capable prime minister, who is showing exemplary leadership at a difficult time.

Updated

Three things we've learned from Sunak's reshuffle so far

The reshuffle may have a long way to go, but we now have the three main offices of state finalised.

Chancellor

Was: Jeremy Hunt

Still is: Jeremy Hunt

Home secretary

Was: Suella Braverman

Now: James Cleverly

Foreign secretary

Was: James Cleverly

Now: David Cameron

There are three clear takeaways from this.

1) Sunak has gone for a blue wall reshuffle, not a red wall reshuffle. In recent days Suella Braverman’s supporters have been saying Sunak should keep her in post to appeal to the red wall voters who backed the Tories for the first time in 2019 who, it is assumed (not always correctly) liked Braverman’s hardline approach to law and order.

Cleverly will adopt a different approach as home secretary. While not exactly a liberal, he’s a pragmatist, not an ideologue or a zealot. The appointment will go down well with the moderate Tory supporters in so-called blue wall seats (Tory seats in the south vulnerable to the Lib Dems). Blue wall Tories may also welcome the return of David Cameron, because they were happy to vote for him in 2010 and 2015.

Sunak’s top team is also the least Brexity since Theresa May’s. Two of the four people in top jobs – Cameron and Hunt – campaigned for remain. Sunak and Cleverly both backed leave, but neither of them played a leading role in that campaign and neither of them are seen as hardline Brexiters.

2) Sunak seems to have realised that running as a “change” candidate at the next election is not really plausible. This was the line he tried in his Tory conference speech (see 9.49am), but it was never plausible at the time, and after today’s reshuffle one must assume it will be given a decent burial. Of the top four in Sunak’s team, two of them were in cabinet in 2010 (Cameron and Hunt).

3) Sunak has boosted Cleverly’s status as a candidate to replace him. Cleverly liked being foreign secretary, and may not be keen on going to the Home Office, famously a graveyard for political careers. But having experience in both those departments ought to help in a leadership contest. Braverman and Kemi Badenoch (among others) are both gearing to run as rightwingers. Cleverly may now be the leading candidate for MPs in the mainstream/centre – although having Sunak’s quasi-endorsement may not actually help him with the membership.

Updated

Jeremy Hunt staying as chancellor, No 10 confirms

Downing Street has also confirmed that Jeremy Hunt is staying as chancellor. This is no surprise because last month No 10 briefed that he would stay in post at least until the spring budget.

(It would also have been reckless to move him just a week before the autumn statement.)

David Cameron appointed next foreign secretary, with seat in House of Lords

David Cameron is the next foreign secretary, and will take a seat in the House of Lords to enable him to take up the post, Patrick Wintour reports.

Updated

James Cleverly confirmed as new home secretary

Downing Street has confirmed that James Cleverly is the new home secretary. He has just left No 10, but did not answer questions from journalists.

Updated

On Sky News commentators have been having a lively discussion about the prospect of David Cameron becoming foreign secretary. Sam Coates pointed out that only last month, following the decision to scrap phase two of HS2, Cameron said the decision “will help to fuel the views of those who argue that we can no longer think or act for the long term as a country; that we are heading in the wrong direction”. And Katy Balls points out that bringing back David Cameron would not fit with Sunak’s claim to be a “change” prime minister overturning 30 years of failed consensus. In his speech to the Tory conference last year Sunak said:

We’ve had thirty years of a political system which incentivises the easy decision, not the right one.

Thirty years of vested interests standing in the way of change.

Thirty years of rhetorical ambition which achieves little more than a short-term headline.

This seemed to be aimed at Cameron as much as Tony Blair, and went down badly with the Cameron camp.

Updated

Opposition politicians (a category which, for these purposes, include Rory Stewart) have welcomed the sacking for Suella Braverman. Here are some of their comments.

From Ed Davey, the Lib Dem leader.

Suella Braverman was never fit to be Home Secretary. Rishi Sunak knew this and he still appointed her.

It was the prime minister’s sheer cowardice that kept her in the job even for this long. We are witnessing a broken party and a broken government, both of which are breaking this country.

From Rory Stewart, the Tory former cabinet minister who now co-hosts the Rest is Politics podcast with Alastair Campbell

A good decision by @RishiSunak - and a brave one. But don’t underestimate the support for Braverman’ populist positions. The PM now has to win a tough fight within his own party. This is just the beginning. A lot of politics to come!

From Jess Phllips, the shadow minister for domestic violence

From Caroline Lucas, the Green party MP

Glad Braverman got what she wanted & Sunak finally summoned courage to sack her - breaching Ministerial Code, recklessly undermining police, deliberately stoking division, hatred & culture wars. But Sunak appointed her knowing all that. It’s on him. We need a #GeneralElectionNow

Updated

Braverman says she will have 'more to say in due course', implying she does not plan to accept her sacking quietly

According to PA Media, Suella Braverman has said:

It has been the greatest privilege of my life to serve as home secretary … I will have more to say in due course.

That implies she is working on a blistering “resignation” speech, which is unlikely to be comfortable reading for Rishi Sunak.

According to Sky News’ Beth Rigby, some Tories are unhappy about the possibility of David Cameron being given a cabinet job because that would imply that none of the 350 Conservative MPs in the Commons were good enough.

Nick Gibb says he is standing down as schools standards minister

Nick Gibb says he is standing down as schools minister.

Over the last few weeks I have been discussing taking up a diplomatic role after the general election. To enable me to do so I have asked the Prime Minister if I can step down from the government at the reshuffle and he has agreed.

Gibb has been minister for school standards for a total of about 10 years, being sacked twice, and then reappointed twice by prime ministers who realised he was good at the job. According to a recent report from the Institute for Government, school standards is about the only area where public services improved between 2010 and the pandemic and this is probably connected to the fact that the minister in charge did not keep changing every 12 months, as happens in most other portfolios.

Gibb has also announced that he is standing down as MP for Bognor Regis and Littlehampton at the next election. His majority there at the last election was 22,503.

David Cameron seen arriving at No 10

David Cameron, the former prime minister, has arrived at No 10, Sky News reports.

Perhaps he is there for a meeting on Alzheimer’s – he is president of Alzheimer’s Research UK – but that seems unlikely. And so is he going to be offered a post in the reshuffle? Foreign secretary? No ex-PM has taken a cabinet job for more than 50 years, but the last one to do it was Alec Douglas-Home, who was appointed foreign secretary by Edward Heath in 1970, six years after he lost a general election.

Cameron is not in parliament, but Rishi Sunak could put him in the Lords if he did want him in cabinet.

Alternatively, he might be offering him some sort of non-ministerial role.

Updated

James Cleverly 'appointed home secretary'

James Cleverly is the new home secretary, the Sun’s Harry Cole reports.

ITV’s Paul Brand says he has had a text with the word “Rejoice” from a Tory MP celebrating the sacking of Suella Braverman.

James Cleverly, the foreign secretary, has been seen going into No 10, PA Media reports.

Neil O'Brien stands down as junior health minister to spend more time on constituency work

Neil O’Brien, a junior health minister, says he is leaving the government. He says he wants to focus on his constituency work, and to spend more time with his children.

It’s been a privilege to serve at DHSC. Great ministerial team & spads and some fab officials.

But with so much going on locally I want to focus 100% on constituency work so have asked to go to back benches. I’m also keen to see more of our two small children (artwork attached)

O’Brien is MP for Harborough in Leicestershire, where he had a majority of 17,278 at the last election. It is hard to tell from just one tweet, but it is possible he feels the need to spend more time there to guarantee re-election.

Updated

The Conservative party says Rishi Sunak is carrying out a ministerial reshuffle as he “strengthens his team in government to deliver long-term decisions for a brighter future”.

Updated

Suella Braverman leaving her home this morning.
Suella Braverman leaving her home this morning. Photograph: Toby Melville/Reuters

Chris Mason tells the Today programme he was told that Rishi Sunak told Suella Braverman he wanted her to leave the government. She was not offered another post.

If she had been offered a more junior post, she was unlikely to accept anyway, Mason says.

Suella Braverman sacked as home secretary after comments over policing of protests

The BBC’s Chris Mason has had the same briefing.

And Pippa Crerar.

Updated

Suella Braverman sacked from post as home secretary

Steven Swinford from the Times says Suella Braverman has been sacked.

Updated

Sunak reshuffling cabinet today Sky News reports

Sky News is reporting that the reshuffle is definitely happening today.

Westminster expecting Rishi Sunak to reshuffle cabinet today

Good morning. Rishi Sunak is poised to reshuffle his cabinet, and Westminster is expecting it to happen today. There has been no confirmation of this yet, but the BBC is reporting that all the signs are that it is coming today. As Politico reports, some insiders are saying this is a 90% probability.

Any reshuffle is likely to see Suella Braverman, the home secretary, being sacked or demoted, but other moves are expected too.

As Peter Walker reports, yesterday Braverman demanded “further action” against pro-Palestine marches, as centrist Conservative MPs expressed despair at Sunak’s delay in sacking her.

Here is the agenda for the day.

11.30am: No 10 is due to hold a lobby briefing.

2.30pm: Mel Stride, the work and pensions secretary, takes questions in the Commons.

After 3.30pm: MPs resume their debate on the king’s speech, focusing on health.

If you want to contact me, do try the “send us a message” feature. You’ll see it just below the byline – on the left of the screen, if you are reading on a laptop or a desktop. This is for people who want to message me directly. I find it very useful when people message to point out errors (even typos – no mistake is too small to correct). Often I find your questions very interesting, too. I can’t promise to reply to them all, but I will try to reply to as many as I can, either in the comments below the line; privately (if you leave an email address and that seems more appropriate); or in the main blog, if I think it is a topic of wide interest.

Updated

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