Hours after Suella Braverman was sacked from the position of United Kingdom Home Secretary, James Cleverly was appointed as the Secretary of State for Home Affairs in a major cabinet reshuffling on Monday.
In another surprising development, former Prime Minister David Cameron was also appointed as the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, Downing Street informed.
The Rt Hon @JamesCleverly MP has been appointed Secretary of State for the Home Department @ukhomeoffice pic.twitter.com/5evoQrZE5k
— UK Prime Minister (@10DowningStreet) November 13, 2023
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This comes after UK PM Rishi Sunak sacked his home secretary Suella Braverman over her sharp criticism of Police amid the ongoing Pro-Palestine rallies in the United Kingdom, Reuters reported.
“The Rt Hon @JamesCleverlyMP has been appointed Secretary of State for the Home Department @ukhomeoffice”, the official X handle of UK Prime Minister posted on X (formerly Twitter).
The Rt Hon @David_Cameron has been appointed Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs @FCDOGovUK pic.twitter.com/r9fL9dIgzs
— UK Prime Minister (@10DowningStreet) November 13, 2023
“The Rt Hon @David_Cameron has been appointed Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs @FCDOGovUK,” it said in a subsequent post.
Notably, this is only the second time after World War II that a former Prime Minister has returned to the cabinet.
Cameron had resigned as the PM in 2016 after Britain voted to leave the European Union, in a referendum that was called by him.
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Meanwhile, Braverman’s removal came amid mounting pressure on PM Sunak over her article in the Times UK that criticised the Metropolitan Police for allegedly “going soft” on certain “radical elements” in Pro-Palestine rallies.
According to Reuters, the UK Home Secretary accused the police of applying a “double standard” to rallies, particularly pro-Palestinian marches, in an opinion piece published before a pro-Palestinian march on Saturday.
On October 10, Braverman issued a warning to police chiefs for displaying Palestinian flags on the streets of the UK. She stated that waving the flag “may not be legitimate” if it is viewed as a show of support for terrorism, according to Anadolu Agency report.
On November 11, London saw one of the largest Pro-Palestine marches since the Israel-Hamas conflict began. Thousands of protestors marched from Marble Arch in Hyde Park through the capital down the Vauxhall Bridge Road, and crossed the River Thames en route to the US Embassy on Nine Elms Lane. The march was in opposition to US President Joe Biden’s unwavering support for the Israeli military’s ground operation in Gaza in response to the Hamas attacks of October 7 that killed 1,400 Israelis and took 200 hostages.
Israel’s Channel 12 reported that the demonstration had witnessed pro Hamas slogans and anti-Jewish chants, anti-Semitic banners.
