Cameron's shock return in high-stakes reshuffle

David Cameron made a stunning political comeback yesterday as Rishi Sunak's foreign secretary in a cabinet reshuffle in which Suella Braverman was sacked as home secretary.

- Pippa Crerar 

• Former PM named foreign secretary after being made life peer
• Tory right enraged as Braverman sacked from Home Office

The prime minister, who pledged to be the "change candidate" at the Conservative conference just a month ago, turned to a centrist predecessor to help close the gap with Labour as he confirmed the ministerial team expected to lead the party into the next election.

Sunak moved James Cleverly, a moderate who had been foreign secretary, to the Home Office, and confirmed that Jeremy Hunt would stay as chancellor, in a clear shift towards the centre that alarmed some on the right of the party.

Cameron, who has kept a relatively low public profile since quitting as prime minister after the 2016 Brexit vote, said: "I've decided to join this team because I believe Rishi Sunak is a good prime minister doing a difficult job at a hard time. I want to support him."

The former Tory leader, who has been made a life peer, said that although he had "disagreed with some individual decisions" by Sunak's government, "politics is a team enterprise".

The reshuffle, which signals a shift towards securing the Tory base in southern blue wall seats even if it costs them votes in the northern red wall, may be a last throw of the dice for Sunak. The party is trailing Labour by more than 20 points and the government is under pressure from its own MPs to cut taxes in the autumn statement, a move made less likely by Hunt remaining at the Treasury.