British prime minister Rishi Sunak has finally decided to part company with Suella Braverman, his controversial interior minister. She had become too toxic for many Conservative MPs and weakened Sunak's authority by regularly sparking new controversies. She described the peaceful pro-Palestinian marches in London over the last four weekends as "hate marches," without condemning the main troublemakers: Far-right militants who tried to force their way into the Cenotaph (the British monument to the fallen soldiers of the two world wars) on Armistice Day on November 11.

Was he trying to limit the discontent of Braverman's many right-wing supporters, by making her firing less personal? In any case, Sunak chose to announce her departure on Monday, November 13, as part of a wider cabinet reshuffle, appointing former prime minister David Cameron (in the top job 2010-2016) foreign secretary in the process. Cameron replaces James Cleverly, who will now take up the post of home secretary at short notice.

Cameron's return to politics also comes as a surprise. He passes for a moderate Conservative, is well known on the international scene, but his legacy is controversial – to say the least. It was because of him that Brexit happened, as he proposed a referendum on the country's membership of the European Union, which ended in a victory for the "no" vote in June 2016.

He is also the man who, in 2010, at the head of a coalition with the Liberal Democrats, launched a policy of austerity that explains the decay of British public services: Schools are short of teachers, courts are short of judges, investment in public infrastructure has ground to a halt, and nearly 8 million people are waiting for an operation or an appointment at a public hospital.

To add to the controversy, Cameron is not even a member of parliament – although normally ministers sit in the House of Commons. As a result, he was hastily made a Lord on Monday so that, at the very least, he could answer for his actions and those of his government in the House of Lords. His name is also associated with one of the worst recent lobbying scandals. According to the BBC and the Financial Times, the former prime minister made millions of pounds lobbying on behalf of finance company Greensill Capital, now under investigation for fraud in Germany and Switzerland.

Suella Braverman has been in the media headlines for months, more for her radical views than for her concrete actions. The main policy she defended – the transfer of asylum seekers to Rwanda – has been on hold for months, awaiting the decision of the British Supreme Court, due to be made public on November 15.

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