James Cleverly appointed home secretary in cabinet reshuffle

James Cleverly has been appointed UK home secretary as part of Rishi Sunak’s attempt to reset his premiership with a cabinet reshuffle.

The prime minister kicked off the shake-up of his ministerial team by sacking Suella Braverman after a weekend of remembrance ceremonies and protests.

Cleverly’s appointment as home secretary comes 48 hours before a crunch supreme court decision on Wednesday when it will announce whether the government’s Rwanda deportation plan can happen.

Over the summer, Cleverly issued an unusual public appeal to Sunak to keep his job as foreign secretary in the next reshuffle. He told the Aspen Security Forum he would have to be dragged out of his job “with nail marks down the parquet flooring”, after speculation he could be moved to the defence brief to replace Ben Wallace.

Cleverly told the US conference: “If anyone in the UK is watching, listening, particularly you prime minister, I very much want to stay put … I very much want to stay put as foreign secretary. It’s a job that I love, I think it’s an important job.”

The 54-year-old MP for Braintree was appointed foreign secretary by Liz Truss and kept in the brief by Sunak.

The prime minister had been criticised for not conducting a wide cabinet reshuffle in August, when a mini-shake-up was triggered by the departure of Wallace.

After the Conservatives’ double byelection defeat to Labour last month, many Tory figures have claimed Sunak has not been “bold enough” since entering No 10.

The party said Sunak was carrying out a wider reshuffle that “strengthens his team in government to deliver long-term decisions for a brighter future”.

Sunak’s reshuffle comes nine days ahead of the autumn statement, prompting questions over whether he could sack his chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, so close to a fiscal event. Rumours had been swirling that Sunak was considering sacking Hunt, amid suggestions the chancellor would himself stand down as an MP before the next election, according to senior Conservatives.

In a move that raised eyebrows across Westminster, the former prime minister David Cameron was seen in Downing Street on Monday, raising speculation he could be in line for a dramatic return to government.

Cameron previously suggested he hoped to one day return to frontline politics, with his eyes on the foreign secretary brief.

News of Braverman’s exit came as the defence minister, James Heappey, was touring broadcast studios. Minutes before she was sacked, Heappey told LBC that Sunak and his team in No 10 had been “very clear she [Braverman] has his confidence and, in that sense, one would imagine that she will continue”.