I heard a political commentator on the radio saying that when Cameron walks into a room people hush up and listen. He added when Starmer walks into a room nobody even notices.
I think it was very wrong of Sunak to sack Suella. I think she was doing a good job.
I see that a bit differently He knew it would be a disaster for our country, that he’d brought about, and wasn’t prepared to stay on as PM and enable something so stupid and disastrous
I think that showed some principles, unusual in a Tory
He didn’t put his career ahead of his country, unlike Johnson and May, who knew Brexit was wrong as well, but were prepared to support and make it happen to further their careers
I am surprised that people are not more astonished at the fact that Sunak made Cameron a peer so that he could give him a job. Cameron is not elected and not an MP. Whether he can sit in the house of commons is unlikely. So isn’t it lucky for Rishi that the house of lords is still there!
Interesting comparison between past Australian politics and the new British politics (except for thefact that Cameron is unelected).
While I agree about the unelected nature of Cameron as a major failing and totally undemocratic I disagree with the fact that Sunak was not elected by popular vote. He was elected by the representatives of the people which, in my opinion, is the strength of the Westminster system. A popularly elected PM would have pretensions of Presidency whereas being in that position on the whim of the Parliament keeps him on his toes (or her).
The plutocratic nature of the UK government is a whole different issue.
I don’t think that proves him to be principled. The referendum promise got him his second term (or half a one as it turned out) as PM, that was his aim. As an experienced politician he knew he should never have made such a reckless pledge: nobody was ready, nothing had been worked out, totally irresponsible. He was against a brexit referendum, when he lost what else could he do but resign asap.
Cameron maintained a low profile following his resignation as prime minister and the subsequent Brexit negotiations. He took up ACOBA-approved positions:
Chairman of the National Citizen Service Patrons.
President of Alzheimer’s Research UK
Consultant for Illumina Inc. (1)
Vice-chair, UK China Fund (2)
Director, ONE
Consultant for First Data Corp. (3)
Member of Council on Foreign Relations
Chairman, LSE-Oxford Commission on Growth in Fragile States
Registered member of Washington Speakers Bureau
Chairman of advisory board, Afiniti (4)
Some of these were less than principled:
(1) Illumina, Inc. is an American biotechnology company, headquartered in San Diego, California, and it serves more than 155 countries. Incorporated on April 1, 1998, Illumina develops, manufactures, and markets integrated systems for the analysis of genetic variation and biological function. The company provides a line of products and services that serves the sequencing, genotyping and gene expression, and proteomics markets.
Illumina’s customers include genomic research centers, pharmaceutical companies, academic institutions, clinical research organizations, and biotechnology companies.
Not really Cameron’s areas of expertise so, presumably, he got money for old rope
(2) David Cameron’s appointment as vice-chair of the £1bn China-UK investment fund and Sir Danny Alexander’s appointment as vice-president of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank were in part engineered by the Chinese state, parliament’s intelligence and security committee (ISC) found.
Their appointment was to lend credibility to Chinese investment as well as the broader Chinese brand, according to confidential evidence given to the intelligence watchdog.
So Cameron became, in effect, a willing and well-paid China stooge
(3) First Data Corporation is a financial services company headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, United States.
They’re in it for the money and so, presumably, was Cameron
(4) Afiniti Ltd., also called Afiniti, is an American multinational data and software company. Founded in 2005, Afiniti is focused on developing artificial intelligence for use in customer call centers.
I can only imagine that Cameron was paid for a non-executive position
In the end, Cameron’s greed became overwhelming and, as his millions accumulated, his lobbying became fanatical
During Cameron’s 2010–2016 premiership, financier Lex Greensill, suggested by the image of a business card published by the Labour Party to be a senior advisor to the Prime Minister, was alleged by The Sunday Times to have had access to eleven departments and agencies. In 2018, Cameron became an adviser to Greensill Capital and held shares in the company. It has been reported that he may have made $60 million from a listing of the company, as well as it being reported that “people familiar with the matter” said he was being paid over $1 million a year for 25 days work per year.
When Greensill was “exposed” as an illegal borrower/lender the repercussions were massive and world-wide - millions of people lost billions of dollars … but Cameron kept his share.