It is not my usual practice to comment on reshuffles. Choosing the right Ministerial team to deliver their plans is the responsibility of each Prime Minister, who must weigh up competing personalities and priorities. But given the unusual nature of this latest reshuffle from Rishi Sunak, I feel constituents may like to know my two cents’ worth. 

The headline news is of course the return of David Cameron, stepping in to fill the post of Foreign Secretary. Having been out of frontline politics since his resignation as PM in 2016, his return came as a shock to even the most well-informed political journalists.  

It is unusual in that he has been made a life peer in order to fulfil the role, but not unprecedented, as Lord Carrington served as Foreign Secretary under Margaret Thatcher, and more recently Lord Mandelson was a Secretary of State under Gordon Brown, both from the House of Lords. Lord Cameron is also the first former PM to return to Cabinet politics since Alec Douglas-Home was Foreign Secretary in the 1970s.  

Having served in the Whips and in Ministerial positions under David Cameron, I know the gravitas and experience he will bring to the role of Foreign Secretary. He has the credibility and respect internationally of having been Prime Minister, and has good working relationships with many world leaders already. His appointment is a real coup for the Prime Minister, bringing experience to Cabinet, well-able to represent the UK abroad during these perilous times.   

More in my wheelhouse, we have a new Defra Secretary of State in Steve Barclay. While the EFRA Select Committee shadows the work of his new department, he will need to appear before the Environmental Audit Committee as part of our cross-government scrutiny role. So I look forward to questioning him on his approach to all things environmental in due course.  

At the Department of Health, Victoria Atkins takes over as Secretary of State for Health. I know all Shropshire MPs will be keen to impress on her the need for continuing progress in the reorganisation of Shropshire’s acute hospitals to improve patient care.  

At the Home Office, James Cleverley will take on the key issues of keeping our country safe, stopping illegal migration in small boats across the Channel, and supporting the police. Further changes to junior ministerial ranks has promoted some of the bright young talent from the 2019 intake, offering a fresh perspective and new ideas.   

I look forward to working with the new Ministerial team to tackle the issues facing South Shropshire ahead of the next General Election.