David Cameron claims Tories deserve to win election and says recovery for party not impossible – UK politics live

David Cameron described Rishi Sunak as having ‘a brain the size of a planet’ during interviews on Monday morning.

LIVE – Updated at 10:00

Foreign secretary talks up party’s prospects – and his ‘very good boss’ Rishi Sunak – on morning broadcast round.

10:00

George Osborne rates David Cameron so highly that, as well as describing him as “acting like the British prime minister” on the world stage (see 9.30am), he even suggested in one recent edition of his Political Currency podcast that Keir Starmer should keep him on as foreign secretary.

A move like that would be unprecedented in recent UK politics, but it happens from time to time in the US. When Barack Obama became president, he retained Robert Gates as his defence secretary even though Gates had worked for his Republican predecessor, George W Bush.

In an interview on ITV’s Good Morning Britain, Ed Balls, who co-presents Political Currency, asked Cameron about Osborne’s proposal. Cameron ruled it out, saying:

There’s absolutely no prospect of that happening. I’m a Conservative and I’m proud to be working for a Conservative government.

I’m very happy to be serving under Rishi Sunak. I’m a Conservative. I work for Conservative governments. I did lead a coalition government, but that’s as far as I’m taking it.

09:30

Good morning. David Cameron, the foreign secretary and former prime minister, has been touring the studios this morning doing an interview round on behalf of No 10. When he made his surprise comeback to cabinet in November last year, there were suggestions that he might be doing quite a lot of this, as a general spokesperson for the government, because he is such a good communicator. But perhaps he’s a bit too good for No 10’s taste. Sunak’s team won’t have been happy about George Osborne, Cameron’s friend and former chancellor, describing him on his podcast recently as “acting like the British prime minister” on the world stage. According to Politico, this is the first time since his appointment Cameron has done a weekday morning broadcast round.

Cameron’s main message has been to urge Israel not to reliate after the mass missile and drone attack from Iran on Saturday night was repulsed almost entirely. Israel should “take the win”, he said (using President Biden’s phrase). Cameron told Times Radio:

The best thing to do in the case of Israel is to recognise this has been a failure for Iran.

And so they should, as President Biden has said to them, as it were, take the win and then move on to focus on how to eradicate Hamas in Gaza and how to get those hostages free …

I think we have to be sensitive in the way we put this [to Israel], but to say ‘look, you have had a win because the Iran attack was such a failure and the smart thing to do as well as the tough thing to do now is actually not to escalate’.

But most of our coverage of that conflict is on our Middle East crisis live blog. Martin Belam is writing it this morning, and he has more on Cameron’s Israel/Iran words here.

Cameron confirmed that Rishi Sunak will make a statement to MPs about the Israel/Iran situation this afternoon. But he also had some upbeat words for Conservatives about their election prospects. When LBC’s Nick Ferrari put it to him that his record as an election winner made him the equivalent of Manchester United’s Alex Ferguson, and asked if he had any advice for Sunak, whom Ferrari described as the team’s Erik ten Hag, Cameron suggested a Tory recovery was possible.

I prefer to point to the example of Unai Emery for [Aston] Villa yesterday who looked like they were on a losing run against Arsenal and in the last few minutes slotted into two. So anything is possible in football as in politics.

And I will be doing everything I can to help Prime Minister Sunak. He’s a very good boss to have. He’s the brightest person in the room, a brain the size of a planet, works incredibly hard, doing good things for this country at a difficult time. Inflation is coming down, interest rates are falling, taxes are coming down. We’ve got a plan, the other lot haven’t, and I can’t wait to get on the campaign trail.

In a separate interview with Sky News, he refused to say when he thought the election should take place, saying Sunak should call it “whenever he thinks it’s right”.

He also ruled out trying to become prime minister again. Replacing Sunak with Cameron is one of the many improbable/implausible/bonkers ideas floated by Tories a possible survival strategy in recent weeks, but Cameron is not intererested. Asked by Sky’s Kay Burley, in what circumstances he would consider becoming PM again, Cameron replied:

None. I’m not applying for this job [being PM]. I’m very happy to be working as foreign secretary.

Here is the agenda for the day.

11.30am: Downing Street holds a lobby briefing.

2.30pm: James Cleverly, the home secretary, takes questions in the Commons.

3.30pm: Sir Matthew Rycroft, permanent secretary at the Home Office, gives evidence to the public accounts committee about the Rwanda scheme.

After 3.30pm: Rishi Sunak makes a statement to MPs about Israel and Iran.

Late afternoon: MPs debate the latest Lords amendments to the safety of Rwanda (asylum and immigration) bill.

Also, Sadiq Khan, the Labour mayor of London, is formally announcing plans to eliminate rough sleeping in the capital.

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