LONDON — Britain’s comeback kid foreign secretary will be known as Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton — in an inadvertent callback to a chummy group of elite power-players from his time in Downing Street.
A House of Lords spokesperson confirmed that David Cameron will take on the new title on Monday, when he will be introduced to Britain’s second legislative chamber. In a shock return, the ex-prime minister was appointed foreign secretary by current-PM Rishi Sunak earlier this week.
Cameron was famously described by Britain’s media corps as a member of the “Chipping Norton Set” in the 2010s — a group of media, political and celebrity elites all hailing from the market town of Chipping Norton in Oxfordshire.
Along with Cameron and his entrepreneur wife Samantha, the group included Rebekah Brooks, the head of Rupert Murdoch’s News U.K. operation, the broadcaster Jeremy Clarkson and Blur bassist Alex James. Brooks was known to be close to Cameron — and the pair exchanged cosy texts in the lead up to the 2010 election that saw Cameron enter Downing Street.
Cameron left the House of Commons in 2016 following his Brexit-induced resignation as prime minister. That meant he had to become an unelected peer in the House of Lords in order to serve as foreign secretary.
Wearing the traditional red, ermine, robes, Cameron will be introduced to the second chamber and take the oath Monday afternoon.
He will then for the first time take questions from fellow peers on his new foreign affairs brief.
