The appointment of David Cameron as Foreign Secretary represents the “final insult” for all those who believe in Brexit, Ann Widdecombe has said.
The former Tory minister, more recently a Brexit Party MEP, was speaking barely a week on from Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s shock decision to hand a crucial role at the heart of his Government to the man who himself occupied Number 10 from 2010 to 2015.
A long-term Eurosceptic even when she was in government, Ms Widdecombe, ex-MP for Maidstone in Kent, has little in common politically with the now Lord Cameron – a fact she readily admitted when asked what she made of the news.
She told Express.co.uk: “I find it insulting – the final insult to the Brexiteers in fact.
“This is the man who was the architect of Project Fear.
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“Somebody who resigned because the nation had voted for Brexit.
“Who has consistently opposed Brexit-type measures, and now he’s in charge of foreign policy, and therefore by definition of EU policy.”
Asked whether she, like many others, had believed Lord Cameron’s political career was behind him, Ms Widdecombe added: “I wish it was.”
MPs are launching an inquiry into how ministers sitting in the House of Lords can be held accountable by elected members.
It comes after David Cameron was appointed Foreign Secretary, with Rishi Sunak appointing the former prime minister to the Lords.
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MPs are expected to hear from witnesses and receive written evidence as part of the probe.
Delivering his maiden speech in the Lords yesterday, Lord Cameron said: “I had two former party leaders in my cabinet alongside many veterans of Tory leadership campaigns, one of which, of course, was the noble Lord Clark
“And I valued all their advice, and I hope that some of my experience will help the Prime Minister in meeting the vital challenges that we face as a country.”
He admitted it had been a “surprise to be asked” to join Mr Sunak’s Government, adding: “I have not been sitting like some latter-day de Gaulle at Colombey-les-Deux-Eglises waiting to be asked, how should I put it, to ‘take back control’.
In a direct reference to Mr Johnson, whom he has known since their days together at Oxford University, he added: “Nor am I Cincinnatus hovering over my plough.
“I leave all classical allusions and indeed illusions for that matter, to another former Prime Minister with whom I share a number of educational experiences.”
The Commons Procedures Committee said that it would look into how a secretary of state, sitting in the Lords, can be scrutinised by MPs.
Chair Karen Bradley said: “The appointment of the new Foreign Secretary has rightly raised many concerns and questions on how he will be answerable to the House of Commons.
“MPs have a unique privilege in being able to scrutinise the work of the government in the Commons chamber, and it is our responsibility to our constituents to hold ministers to account.
“This inquiry will explore options by which a Secretary of State in the Lords can be effectively questioned by MPs.”
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