Sunak pins hopes on Cameron's return

PM aims to rewrite the Tory narrative with shock appointment, but will it shift the dial with voters?

- Pippa Crerar

Just five weeks ago Rishi Sunak pledged to be the candidate of change, telling activists at the Conservative party conference that he would shake up three decades of political consensus.

Instead, on Monday he brought back David Cameron, the former prime minister who was in charge for six of those 30 years and who, through Brexit, ushered in the biggest schism in British politics for a generation.

Sunak has been on the back foot for months, trailing in the polls and casting around for something - or, as it turns out, someone - to help him reassert his authority.

Suella Braverman's increasingly inflammatory remarks - most recently accusing the police of bias over pro-Palestine marches - were retoxifying the Tory brand and ultimately forced his hand.

Braverman, who many believe was agitating to be sacked, returns to the backbenches to continue her leadership campaign, earning the dubious honour of being one of the few cabinet ministers to be dismissed twice from the same job in just over a year.

The reaction of the Tory right to her departure has been - initially at least - fairly muted. It leaves Kemi Badenoch, who is also believed to have her eye on the leadership if the Tories lose the election, as the main flag bearer of the right in the cabinet.