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The UK prime minister's dramatic cabinet reshuffle is not certain to succeed.
With appointments and dismissals, Rishi Sunak has restored his conservative credentials. The dramatic reorganization of the British Prime Minister's cabinet executed on Monday after a weekend of speculation has caused many reactions, writes "Politico".
This was Sunak's chance to stamp his authority on a ministerial team he inherited in part from his predecessors, Boris Johnson and Liz Truss, and create a unit focused on delivering his electoral message.
The surprise appointment of former prime minister David Cameron as foreign secretary was designed to convey seriousness, with the added bonus of deflecting headlines from Sunak's decision to sack his home secretary, Suella Braverman.
In her place, Sunak appointed James Cleverley, a quiet and affable person who was previously in charge of foreign affairs. A number of Sunak's loyal young soldiers received promotions in the ensuing reshuffle.
But with elections expected next year, the strategy presented by Sunak poses a risk to his journey.
Only a few weeks ago, the Prime Minister was trying to portray himself as the candidate of "change" in the election, sharply criticizing the previous 12 years of Tory-led governments including Cameron's. This approach now appears to have been discarded in favor of more traditional conservative messages about posture and stability.
Indeed, Sunak had little choice but to be brave.
His party is lagging far behind in the polls and neither a post-summer policy 'reset' nor a speech at the party conference has managed to move the numbers.
The King's Speech last week, which set out Sunak's legislative program for the next 12 months, was seen as weak and with little scope for spending in next week's autumn financial statement.
Therefore, Sunak chose to deploy an attention-grabbing reshuffle as one of the few levers he has left to pull ahead of the next election.
A senior Downing Street official laid out two guiding principles behind Monday's reshuffle: "Competence and a united team focused on what the public wants."
For some parts of the Conservative Party, such a change is long overdue.
With few other options, Sunak chose to deploy an attention-grabbing reshuffle as one of the few levers he has left to pull ahead of the next election.
A former cabinet minister hailed the decision to bring Cameron back as "a master". They believed it would "reassure the party and the public that the Conservatives are serious about governing and winning".
"Suella Braverman has been a problem," said one conservative candidate.
However, Sunak risks playing on the early fears of conservative-minded colleagues that he is less right-wing than they had hoped.
The Tory Prime Minister has tried to allay these fears by promoting Richard Holden, a keen activist in a Red Wall chair, and Esther McVey, another high-profile MP from the north of England, who is happy to lean on the culture wars.
The danger for Sunak is that neither the wing of his divided party nor half of his fragile coalition of voters will be convinced.
A conservative strategist warned that the reshuffle could cause Sunak to lose some votes to the new right-wing Reform party, which is currently polling at around 8 percent.
With yesterday's mass exodus of experienced and respected mid-ranking officials, such as Science Minister George Freeman, some fear the Prime Minister's "competence" has already been undermined.
There were also protests yesterday over the sacking of Rachel Maclean as Housing Minister, a role that has been held by 16 different people in the last 13 years.
Sunak must now pin his hopes on a slowly improving economy and the ability to demonstrate authority after the chaos of Johnson and Truss, says More In Common's Tryl.
"The truth is that these changes are a real blow from a distance. But this is the card he has to play," added Tryl.
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