Talk:November 2023 British cabinet reshuffle

Cameron lined up for Foreign Secretary before Braverman article
It is being widely reported that Cameron attended Sunak's flat above No. 11 last Tuesday to discuss becoming Foreign Secretary. This is well before Braverman's article in the Times. His appointment was meant to be later in the year. Her article apparently brought it forward. The Wikipedia entry needs updating now that more public information is citable. Ralph Corderoy (talk) 09:45, 14 November 2023 (UTC)

"no precedent"
I don't think it's right, or at least it is not particularly material, that "However, the position is legally ambiguous as cabinet members are expected to already be in either Parliament of the United Kingdom before taking up the post. The last major non-Parliamentary member cabinet appointment of Peter Mandelson did not take up his post until being raised to a peer, there is thus no precedent for a cabinet member to take up a post before their peerage became official by being enrolled by the monarch.". Patrick Gordon Walker was Foreign Secretary when running for a by-election which he lost, and so was not an MP. I don't understand what "legally ambiguous" is supposed to mean - there is precedent in history for this, at most it is controversial or improper but not legally ambiguous? I understand the point about there being no precedent for taking up a post before being enrolled by the monarch, but (1) Patrick Gordon Walker is at least partly analogous (he awaited becoming an MP whereas Cameron awaits being awarded his peerage) and the issue here is the absence of being an MP or a Lord, not simply not being not a Lord; (2) related to this, the issue again is the lack of any pre-existing status in Parliament, so it is over specific to focus on the fact that there is no precedent for this particular scenario. I would also say that Baroness Morgan, though she became DCMS Secretary when still an MP, was the Secretary of State between 12 December 2019 (when the new Parliament was elected) and 13 January 2020 when she became a peer - so again there is analogous precedent. Further, crucially, I've just found the precedent of Frederick Elwyn-Jones became Lord Chancellor on 4 March 1974 when, though an MP at that time, the office could only be held by a peer - he only became a peer on 11 March. So there's further very analogous, if not direct, precedent. 194.33.196.4 (talk) 12:15, 16 November 2023 (UTC)