Plaid Cymru slams ‘farcical’ Cabinet reshuffle
Emily Price
Plaid Cymru’s Westminster leader has slammed the Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak as he embarks on a reshuffle of his frontbench, sacking Suella Braverman and appointing David Cameron as Foreign Secretary.
The reshuffle came following ongoing controversy surrounding the now ex-home secretary Suella Braverman.
Mrs Braverman last week penned an unauthorised article criticising the way pro-Palestinian protests had been policed.
During several interviews she used the term “hate marches”, as well as making inflammatory remarks suggesting rough sleeping was a “lifestyle choice”.
Although the reshuffle had been expected, the return of the former prime minster, David Cameron has been a surprise to many.
He will replace James Cleverly as Foreign Secretary and will be given a peerage.
Leadership
A Downing Street spokesman said: “The King has been pleased to approve the appointment of the Rt Hon David Cameron as Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs.
“His Majesty has also been pleased to confer the dignity of a Barony of the United Kingdom for life upon David Cameron.”
As the newly appointed Foreign Secretary quit his Witney seat in September 2016, he will not be accountable to other MPs.
Lord Cameron said that while “I may have disagreed with some individual decisions” made by Rishi Sunak, he “is a strong and capable Prime Minister, who is showing exemplary leadership at a difficult time”.
Mr Cleverly will take on the job of Home Secretary after Mr Sunak ended Mrs Braverman’s controversial tenure in the job.
Plaid Cymru Westminster leader, Liz Saville Roberts MP branded the Cabinet reshuffle a “Farcial situation”.
She said: “Rishi Sunak has imposed a failed Prime Minister as Foreign Secretary without any democratic appointment process. There is no longer even a shadow of a pretence of democratic accountability. The Tories’ obsession with clinging on to power is beyond parody.
“During a time of international instability, particularly in Ukraine and Israel-Palestine, MPs will not be able to scrutinise the work of the Foreign Secretary. How on earth does Rishi Sunak defend such a farcical situation?
“The fact that out of 350 MPs, not a single Tory in the House of Commons was deemed competent for the role proves that the Conservatives are unable to govern.
“David Cameron’s mishandling of the Brexit referendum and his decision to abandon the sinking ship are hardly measures of competence either. This appointment will therefore do nothing to instil confidence in Sunak’s judgment.”
Also on Monday morning, Therese Coffey left her role as Environment Secretary, Downing Street said.
In a letter to the Prime Minister, she said that it was “now the right time to step back from government”.
Support our Nation today
For the price of a cup of coffee a month you can help us create an independent, not-for-profit, national news service for the people of Wales, by the people of Wales.
Wales has to have its own independent elections now preferably on a four year basis
Westminster has lost all credibility and should be replaced by an England
only democratic institution if such a thing is possible
‘It’s not my job to worry about people starving to death in the UK’ said Therese. Coffey when she was Work & Pensions Secretary. ‘The right time to step back from government’ was before she stepped forward into it. There will always be someone equally deplorable to replace her but it is still quite satisfying to see such moral voids disappear.
Also, next time the latest rebranded ‘Nat C’ meeting takes place and they start misusing the term ‘common sense’, perhaps someone could refer them to Liz Saville Roberts to teach them what the term really means.
When are thee people of the ‘so called’ UK going to wake up to the fact we are ruled over by a cabal of self serving narcissists who care nothing for the people of this Country? Especially those who are poor and have nothing!
We live in hope.
If the need for constitutional reform is not now apparent to all, then I do wonder what on earth will produce that mild epiphany. Yet we wearily await a Labour Government who have already ruled this out – even the basic reform of the Lords eludes their capacity to form a firm policy. A Welsh vote for any of the unionist parties is a wasted one. Anyone thinking that Labour will give Wales its voice is either a shyster or a fool. We do not have our full voice until we have a sovereign Welsh Parliament.
Yes, constitutional reform involves an independent Wales, Scotland and regional English parliaments reducing the Empire to its’ gated yard of Downing Street. What is outside of it on Whitehall still belongs to all of us, NOT JUST THEM.
Interesting piece in Westcountry Voices considering how we restore confidence in Government. Clearly this latest pantomime will not help.
Plaid Cymru slams. That’s all we hear, Plaid proposes and all you will hear is the sound of silence.
We’re still going along with it though. That’s the really scary thing. After all the insanity we’ve politely stewed over for almost a decade and a half. The PM proves that he is certifiable by hiring an unelected person to be foreign secretary and the UK’s response is, ‘Its sucks that David Cameron is our new foreign secretary’. He’s not! He’s not by democratic law. It’s the ravings of a mad man whose lost touch with reality and his delusional peers. If foreign nations received a call from him the right thing to do would be to hang up, block… Read more »