There’s a certain type of Tory who goes a bit gooey-eyed whenever David Cameron speaks. Since his Lordship’s return to the frontline of British politics last November, many a moderate can be heard gushing about the former leader’s mastery of communications. ‘At last’, they cry ‘The grown-ups are back in the room!’ The sentiment among a certain type of centrist was best summarised by the two-word text which Iain Dale received on reshuffle day from a Tory MP. It read simply: ‘Daddy’s home.’
But seven months on, with Labour’s poll lead only continuing to grow, is the return of Lord Cameron really all it was cracked up to be? The thinking in Downing Street was that the addition of a ‘heavy hitter’ to the front bench would boost Britain’s standing and add some much-needed heft to the Sunak regime. Yet it is far from clear that the Foreign Secretary’s interventions are having the desired effect, with his trip to Washington in February to call for Ukrainian aid sparking a backlash among outraged Republicans. So much for the special relationship…
Cameron’s latest critic is Elbridge Colby, who is tipped to become national security adviser in Donald Trump’s potential second administration. In an interview with Politico, he today lacerates the former Prime Minister for his ‘moralising’ and, in an added humiliation, heaped praise on his would-be-successor, Labour’s David Lammy. He says:
Cameron finds every opportunity to come and moralise to the Americans after he was responsible for cutting the British military and the ‘panda hug’ of China in the early 2010s. So it’s really the height of audacity for such a person to be coming and lecturing us… [But David] Lammy is laying out a more compatible vision to what people like me are talking about, which is an increase in defence, spending more of a U.K. focus on Europe. I’d rather have a lot less talk and haranguing and more delivery.
Ouch. Somewhat undermines Sunak’s claim that only the Conservatives can keep Britain safe…
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