WHEN Tracey Crouch resigned on Thursday night, she became the 19th person to have left Theresa May’s Government since the 2017 snap General Election.
But in a shock twist that nobody was expecting, one former prominent member of the government reportedly suggested he could come back and offer the country his services again. There was, however, little enthusiasm for the possible return to frontline politics of David Cameron.
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Cameron, who resigned as prime minister the morning after the Brexit referendum and then stood down as a Tory MP three months later, is, according to a report in The Sun, telling friends he would consider a place in a future Tory cabinet. “David is dedicated to public service and has often said he wouldn’t rule out a public role one day, domestically or internationally,” a source told the paper. “But he is only 52, and still a young man.”
The paper’s source says Cameron is currently “bored s***less”.
At the time of his resignation, he said: “I’ve said before that Britain can survive outside the EU and indeed that we could find a way, now the decision has been made to leave we need to find the best way.
“I will do everything I can to help – I love this country, and I feel honoured to have served it and I will do everything I can in future to help this great country succeed.”
He is currently writing his memoirs, which are expected to see him settle scores with Michael Gove and Boris Johnson, who led the successful Vote Leave campaign.
Labour’s shadow education secretary Angela Rayner tweeted: “Just when you thought politics couldn’t get anymore bizarre.
“No David please stay in retirement you caused enough damage last time.”
Yvette Cooper tweeted: “What, because it worked out so well last time? Man, you ripped up our closest international partnership. By accident. That makes you even worse than Boris Johnson.”
Writer James Felton tweeted: “Someone tell Cameron he can’t just come back and take over whenever he feels like it. We’re a country, not a child you’ve left in a pub.”
Not everyone was entirely against a Cameron comeback. Former Scottish Labour MP Tom Harris, pictured above, tweeted: “I can think of far worse things than the return of @David_Cameron to frontline politics.”
Downing Street, however, were non-committal. “Whether he chooses to seek to return to frontline politics or not is entirely a matter for him,” a spokesman said.
Number 10 has bigger things to worry about at the moment, including a potential revolt over the Government’s delay to curbing highly-addictive fixed-odds betting terminals (FOBTs).
More than 30 Tory MPs are understood to be considering a rebellion on the upcoming Finance Bill. If Labour, the SNP, and the LibDems all vote against the Government too, as would be likely, May would lose the vote.
Minister for sport Tracey Crouch resigned in protest over the ”unjustified” delay on plans to cut the maximum stakes on FOBTs from £100 to £2, laid out in the Budget on Monday. In a blunt letter, the MP said the Government could be responsible for hundreds of people being driven to suicide by the time the proposals are implemented in October 2019.
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SNP MP Ronnie Cowan, who has long campaigned against the FOBTs, said the former minister had done the right thing.
“In any dealings I have had with Tracey Crouch she always been extremely helpful and has always struck me as a principled politician. Ministers of her calibre, commitment and honesty are thin on the ground. The UK Government is poorer for her loss and I hope she will now consider joining the All-Party Parliamentary Group on fixed odds betting terminals and use her knowledge to ensure we hold the UK Government to account on this issue. Going forward they must take meaningful action to address gambling related harm which is a growing blight throughout UK society.”
There was embarrassment too for the Prime Minister after former home secretary Amber Rudd was cleared by a report into her resignation around the Windrush scandal.
The ex-cabinet minister quit after she admitted “inadvertently misleading” Parliament over targets for removing illegal immigrants.
However, a report by the Prime Minister’s independent adviser on ministerial standards has now criticised officials providing advice to Rudd at the time.
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