Amber Rudd's return is a surprising yet inevitable new dawn

Amber Rudd’s return to frontline politics was both a surprise and inevitable, according to one former colleague.

Surprising because she was brought down so recently and so spectacularly by the Windrush scandal, which she had tried to defend despite a series of articles in the Guardian.

And inevitable because she has been a steadfast supporter of Theresa May since stepping down as home secretary, while a good number of her Tory colleagues have rounded on the prime minister over Brexit.

Rudd, 55, comes back to the cabinet as work and pensions secretary seven months after leaving over a hostile environment policy towards immigrants that was devised by May when she was home secretary.

Rudd drove forward action on domestic abuse and sex abuse while she was at the Home Office. This year she unveiled plans for tougher action against domestic abusers and the first ever statutory definition of domestic abuse.

In April, a long-awaited strategy to deal with serious violence was published, but the launch was overshadowed by a leak revealing that government cuts had “likely contributed” to a rise in serious violence.

Asked about the document, Rudd said: “I haven’t seen this document.”

The impression given was one of a politician not on top of her brief or across the detail of policy.

However, her reputation may have been somewhat restored two weeks ago when a report into the Windrush scandal blamed senior civil servants for keeping her in the dark.

Despite representing the Brexit-backing constituency of Hastings, Rudd is still a remainer with a traditional “one nation” Tory outlook. Her father was a stockbroker, and her brother Roland is a leading remainer and lobbyist. She was married for five years to AA Gill, the late restaurant critic, with whom she had two children. In his columns she was, famously, the Silver Spoon.