Former Prime Minister David Cameron has broken his silence on his dramatic return to frontline politics.
Rishi Sunak named Cameron as his new Foreign Secretary despite him not currently serving as an MP.
He was given a seat in the Lords to take up the role as Sunak sparked a row over his decision to sack Home Secretary Suella Braverman.
The decision sparked a raft of changes that resulted in the Foreign Secretary post being left open for Cameron to take the reins.
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He admitted that his return is “not usual”, but he is raring to carry out the task as he is bound by a sense of “duty”.
“The Prime Minister asked me to do this job, and it’s the time where we have some daunting challenges as a country”, he said.
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“The conflict in the Middle East, the war in Ukraine, and I hope that six years as Prime Minister, 11 years leading the Conservative Party, gives me some useful experience and contacts and knowledge that I can help the Prime Minister to make sure we build our alliance and partnerships with our friends, we deter our enemies and we keep our country strong.
“That’s why I’m doing the job and I’m delighted to accept it.”
Cameron spoke out on recent disagreements with the Prime Minister which included his decision to scrap the northern leg of HS2.
“I’ve disagreed with some individual decisions, of course”, he said.
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GB News“But politics is a team enterprise. I’ve decided to join this time because I believe Rishi Sunak is a good Prime Minister doing a difficult job at a hard time.
“I want to support him, I’m a member of the team and I support the Cabinet collective responsibility that comes with that.”
Cameron’s return was the first of its nature since Alec Douglas-Home in the 1970s, another former prime minister to have made a comeback to government.
His views on China have come into question after he enjoyed a “golden era” of co-operation with Beijing during his tenure as Prime Minister.
Sunak described the period as “naive” last year amid growing tensions with Xi Jinping.
Sunak’s press secretary said the reshuffle reflects his focus on having a “strongly united team” after his ousted home secretary was seen as making unauthorised pitches to the right for a future leadership contest.
Despite pressure from some Tory MPs for a radical tax-cutting change in the approach to the economy, Jeremy Hunt remains as Chancellor ahead of next week’s autumn statement.