IT was only a few weeks ago that Prime Minister Rishi Sunak stood up at the Tory Party conference and vowed to lead a government of integrity and accountability – that his premiership would be marked by change in the Conservative Party.

In what was seen as a blatant attempt to distance himself from his predecessors he said: “You either think this country needs to change, or you don’t.”

Fast forward to the PM’s actions this week and he has only gone and brought back former prime minister David Cameron into government as the new Foreign Secretary.

READ MORE: Keir Starmer 'watered down key parts of devolution report'

Given the fact that Cameron is not currently an elected MP, Sunak had to make him a peer in the unelected House of Lords.

At a time when the world is seeing seismic disorder and chaos in places such as Russia, Ukraine and Gaza, Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton will hold one of the UK’s most important offices as an unelected lord. The fact he is not an MP and therefore cannot be scrutinised by other MPs in the Commons highlights yet again the current state of democracy in the UK.

But leaving the undemocratic nature of his post to one side, let’s not forget that Cameron is the architect of Tory austerity. Along with his pal George Osborne, he created the “benefit scrounger” rhetoric, he normalised food banks, and he laid the foundations for abhorrent policies such as the rape clause. Cameron has a lot to answer for and in this new role it turns out he will not have to answer to much at all.

As a Remainer, Cameron smugly thought that Brexit would never happen. He called the bluff of his pro-Brexit Tory peers in agreeing to a referendum on EU membership and was left defeated, resigning the day after the vote.

His government did not have a plan for the UK leaving the European Union, resulting in years of Brexit mayhem that we have all had to endure and are still enduring.

The many staunch Brexiteers in the Conservative Party will be quivering in their boots at this dubious David Cameron sequel we are all being made to watch.

Like many former politicians, after leaving the office of prime minister, Cameron dabbled in the murky waters where business and politics meet in the lobbying world as a paid adviser to Greensill Capital. The firm collapsed in 2021 leaving thousands of jobs at risk and raising serious questions about former ministers lobbying government.

A far cry from the integrity and accountability that Sunak pledged to deliver going forward.

For the Prime Minister to now have to pick up the phone to Cameron and offer him the Foreign Secretary job is telling to say the least. For a PM who wants change, he could have used the opportunity of a reshuffle to showcase some of his up-and-coming MPs.

READ MORE: Michael Russell - Matheson frenzy is part of a Tory insider attack on our Parliament

The reality is the UK Government was unable to find a replacement foreign secretary from a pool of over 300 Tory MPs on the back benches. This shows you just how shallow the talent pool is in Westminster and how dangerous some of Sunak’s MPs truly are.

I briefly wondered if Cameron’s appointment was a signal that Sunak was hoping to drag the Tories back to a more sane central position rather than continuing to appease the far right of his party.

This thought was fleeting, however, as hours later Sunak pledged to ignore international law and multiple court rulings that his ridiculous and cruel plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda is unlawful.

This is a tired, elitist government which is thankfully running out of time. The question is how much more damage it will allowed to inflict before its time is up.