Red Wall voters don't want Cameron back as Foreign Secretary

David Cameron leaves 10 Downing Street after being appointed foreign secretary in Monday's cabinet reshuffle Photo: CARL COURT/GETTY

A majority of Red Wall voters think Rishi Sunak's appointment of Lord Cameron is a bad idea, new opinion polls suggest.

More than twice as many people occupy the traditional seats of The Labor Party, won by the Tories in 2019, said the former prime minister's shock appointment as foreign secretary was the wrong decision, while those who welcomed his return to politics.

But those living in Conservative centers reacted more warmly to the appointment of a peer, supporting and opposing him in equal measure.

Research by think tank More In Common found 49 per cent of «loyal citizens» — the term for voters who abandoned Labor for the Tories in 2019 — believed Mr Sunak made the wrong decision in bringing back Lord Cameron.

Fewer than one in four loyal citizens (23 per cent) thought the decision was the right one, a statistic likely to fuel fears that the presence of a prime minister who led the failed campaign to leave the EU is unlikely to prove popular in strongly pro-Brexit countries.

Established Liberals

Among «established Liberals» (a phrase used by More In Common for members of the «Blue Wall» of traditional Tory seats), 28 per cent said Mr Sunak had made the right decision, with the same proportion saying he was mistaken, and 44 percent did not know about it.

«Core Conservatives» — active party supporters who tend to be older and more prosperous — also reacted favorably to Lord Cameron's return, with 42 percent saying it was the right decision and 26 percent opposing it.

Luke Thrill, director of More In Common, warned that polls show the “catch 22” facing the Conservatives as they prepare for the next general election.

“Cameron's comeback certainly looks like it will please more voters «Blue Tories and could help the party in its fight against the Lib Dems,» he said.

“But for Red Wall voters in particular, the failure of the Rwanda Scheme is just another example of the government not delivering on its promises, and explains their defection back to Keir Starmer's Labor Party.”

Rwanda Plan

Mr Tril said the Rwanda plan represented a delicate «balancing act», adding that threats to withdraw from the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) «could well alienate those more liberal Conservative voters that the party has used the reshuffle to try to win back back to yourself.» /p>

The return of Lord Cameron also split the ranks of the Conservatives. One Southern Conservative called him «an absolutely brilliant and amazing Prime Minister», adding: «I have every faith that he will conduct our diplomacy in an exemplary manner.»

But another added: » Cameron is not going to win votes in the Red Wall elections. He's unpopular, he couldn't even beat Gordon Brown properly. The anti-woke campaign makes no sense when David Cameron was the architect of 'woke' in the Conservative Party.»

Asked on the day of the reshuffle whether Lord Cameron now believed in Brexit, the Prime Minister's Press Secretary of State told reporters: «Yes, sure. We are making Brexit a success.»

Following the Rwanda decision on Wednesday, the Foreign Secretary said controlling Britain's borders was a «fundamental responsibility» of the government as he vowed to «do whatever is necessary» to end Brexit. illegal migration.