UK's Cabinet reshuffle on Monday (November 13) sprung a few surprises — the key being the inclusion of former PM David Cameron as secretary of state for foreign, commonwealth and development affairs. UK PM Rishi Sunak also dropped Suella Braverman as home secretary from his Cabinet.
Speaking to CNBC-TV18's Parikshit Luthra, Rami Ranger, Patron of The Conservative Friends of India Group, said this Cabinet reshuffle will help PM Rishi Sunak both inside and outside the UK. Many UK political experts also see Cameron’s return as an effort by PM Sunak to unite his government.
“David Cameron is a very popular world leader. He has special rapport with world leaders. I think it is a huge achievement on part of Rishi Sunak because David Cameron is very popular with the grassroots, he has immense charisma, he has special relations with Prime Minister Modi and India. Therefore, it is a huge success for Rishi Sunak,” Ranger said.
Former Indian ambassador to WTO Jayant Dasgupta felt India-UK FTA talks will not be hit by these Cabinet decisions. Rather, he said Cameron's charisma and good relations with PM Modi may guide the talks in a positive direction.
“I don’t think because of the changes in the UK Cabinet the free trade agreement (FTA) talks will get affected. However, they can get delayed beyond the January deadline that informally both sides are trying to achieve. Differences on the 24 out of the 26 chapters have been narrowed down and almost removed. The only things which now remain to be sorted out are the tariff reduction schedule on whiskey, the concessions to be given for electric vehicles exported from the UK to India, dairy product access and rules of origin.”
Dasgupta highlighted that Braverman had very strong views against short-term work visas to Indians, which he hopes, will get a new perspective under replacement James Cleverly.
“Suella Braverman had very strong reservations against the demand of India to have a guaranteed work visa programme built into the FTA for short-term visitors to the UK. So that is something that I think James Cleverly will possibly look at differently. This is also one of the issues on which the FTA negotiations have been stuck, so there could be progress by the removal of Suella Braverman as well.”
