Rishi Sunak has welcomed a “strong and united” cabinet to its first meeting following the sacking of Suella Braverman as home secretary.
Lord David Cameron, the newly appointed foreign secretary, was a shock return to government, and this morning sat in a cabinet meeting for the first time since he resigned as prime minister in 2016.
Speaking to the cabinet in front of cameras, Mr Sunak welcomed those “for whom it’s their first cabinet”.
And in a quip on Lord Cameron‘s behalf, he added a welcome “to those for whom it may not be their first time”.
In what seemed like a pointed remark at Ms Braverman – who lost her job yesterday after questioning the police and saying living in a tent on the streets was a “lifestyle” choice – Mr Sunak said “this strong and united team is going to deliver” the changes for the country the government is aiming at.
Mr Sunak said it was an “important week”, with inflation figures and the Supreme Court’s ruling on the Rwanda deportation scheme due on Wednesday, followed by Chancellor Jeremy Hunt’s autumn statement next Wednesday.
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“Across all of that I’m confident that we can demonstrate to the country that we’re making progress on the priorities that I set out at the beginning of the year – to halve inflation, grow the economy, reduce debt, cut waiting lists and to stop the boats,” he said.
Touching on what will be Lord Cameron’s portfolio, the prime minister added: “We want to build a better future for our children and for our grandchildren and that is what this team is going to do, whether it’s navigating the crises in Ukraine, the Middle East, to demonstrate we will stand up for our values and provide security for everyone here at home.
“But also to make the big, bold decisions that will drive change.”
He also spoke of a “new approach” to infrastructure spending – which follows the prime minister’s decision to scrap the northern leg of HS2, a move criticised by Lord Cameron at the time.
Mr Sunak also repeated his plans for a generation of children to “grow up smoke-free”, as well as his changed approach to net zero and reforms to the education system.
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Norman Tebbit, the former Tory minister who served in Margaret Thatcher’s government, has died at the age of 94.
Lord Tebbit died “peacefully at home” late on Monday night, his son William confirmed.
One of Mrs Thatcher’s most loyal cabinet ministers, he was a leading political voice throughout the turbulent 1980s.
He held the posts of employment secretary, trade secretary, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Conservative party chairman before resigning as an MP in 1992 after his wife was left disabled by the Provisional IRA’s bombing of the Grand Hotel in Brighton.
He considered standing for the Conservative leadership after Mrs Thatcher’s resignation in 1990, but was committed to taking care of his wife.
Image: Margaret Thatcher and Norman Tebbit in 1987 after her election victory. Pic: PA
Tory leader Kemi Badenoch called him an “icon” in British politics and was “one of the leading exponents of the philosophy we now know as Thatcherism”.
“But to many of us it was the stoicism and courage he showed in the face of terrorism, which inspired us as he rebuilt his political career after suffering terrible injuries in the Brighton bomb, and cared selflessly for his wife Margaret, who was gravely disabled in the bombing,” she wrote on X.
“He never buckled under pressure and he never compromised. Our nation has lost one of its very best today and I speak for all the Conservative family and beyond in recognising Lord Tebbit’s enormous intellect and profound sense of duty to his country.
“May he rest in peace.”
Image: Lord Tebbit and his wife Margaret stand outside the Grand Hotel in Brighton. Pic: PA
Tory grandee David Davis told Sky News Lord Tebbit was a “great working class Tory, always ready to challenge establishment conventional wisdom for the bogus nonsense it often was”.
“He was one of Thatcher’s bravest and strongest lieutenants, and a great friend,” Sir David said.
“He had to deal with the agony that the IRA visited on him and his wife, and he did so with characteristic unflinching courage. He was a great man.”
Reform leader Nigel Farage said Lord Tebbit “gave me a lot of help in my early days as an MEP”.
He was “a great man. RIP,” he added.
Image: Lord Tebbit as employment secretary in 1983 with Mrs Thatcher. Pic: PA
Born to working-class parents in north London, he was made a life peer in 1992, where he sat until he retired in 2022.
Lord Tebbit was trade secretary when he was injured in the Provisional IRA’s bombing in Brighton during the Conservative Party conference in 1984.
Five people died in the attack and Lord Tebbit’s wife, Margaret, was left paralysed from the neck down. She died in 2020 at the age of 86.
Before entering politics, his first job, aged 16, was at the Financial Times where he had his first experience of trade unions and vowed to “break the power of the closed shop”.
He then trained as a pilot with the RAF – at one point narrowly escaping from the burning cockpit of a Meteor 8 jet – before becoming the MP for Epping in 1970 then for Chingford in 1974.
Image: Lord Tebbit during an EU debate in the House of Lords in 1997. Pic: PA
As a cabinet minister, he was responsible for legislation that weakened the powers of the trade unions and the closed shop, making him the political embodiment of the Thatcherite ideology that was in full swing.
His tough approach was put to the test when riots erupted in Brixton, south London, against the backdrop of high rates of unemployment and mistrust between the black community and the police.
He was frequently misquoted as having told the unemployed to “get on your bike”, and was often referred to as “Onyerbike” for some time afterwards.
What he actually said was he grew up in the ’30s with an unemployed father who did not riot, “he got on his bike and looked for work, and he kept looking till he found it”.