UK PM Sunak gambles on return of Cameron to win over moderate voters
David Cameron's return to government, but his appointment is one that British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak hopes will signal to wavering supporters that the Conservatives are not lurching to the right to win an election expected next year.
As well as firing his interior minister, Suella Braverman, after she published an unauthorised article criticising the police's handling of protests, Sunak has used a wider reshuffle to bring back the prime minister who campaigned to remain in the European Union in a referendum on membership he called in 2016.
It's a risky strategy — while welcomed by centrist lawmakers, the party's right senses the end of their increased dominance, built during the wars over EU membership, with one fearing the appointment amounted to a "Brexit surrender".
«He has appointed the man who led the 'remain' campaign and who has got huge problems over his association with Greensill,» said a Conservative lawmaker on the right of the party, referring to Cameron's lobbying work for a now-collapsed supply chain finance firm.
«Is he spoiling for a fight with Conservatives?»
The decision to fire Braverman removes from the cabinet one of the most prominent supporters of leaving the EU and means even more of Sunak's top ministers supported remaining in the bloc in 2016. Out of the 29 cabinet roles, at least 16 backed remaining in the EU, compared with 10 who supported leaving.
Sunak backed Brexit.
