Braverman ‘smear’ fears over curbs on migrants

Speeding fine row is concerted effort to discredit her, say Home Secretary’s allies

ALLIES of Suella Braverman fear she is the victim of a smear campaign amid an increasingly acrimonious battle over her efforts to tighten restrictions on net migration.

The Home Secretary was accused at the weekend of asking civil servants to help organise a private driving awareness course as she sought to avoid incurring points on her licence after being caught speeding.

She is expected to face questions in the Commons about the matter today, and it is understood the Prime Minister will consult his ethics adviser Sir Laurie Magnus as Labour claims Mrs Braverman may have breached the ministerial code.

Rishi Sunak yesterday refused to back the Home Secretary when asked for his opinion at a press conference in Hiroshima, Japan, during the G7 leaders’ summit, although Downing Street later said he had full confidence in her.

The row comes as Mrs Braverman is fighting a battle in Cabinet for the Government to go further in curbing net migration in the run-up to figures on Thursday expected to show that it hit a record high last year, with projections that the total will be between 700,000 and one million.

Last week she publicly piled pressure on Mr Sunak by saying the Government needed to “get overall immigration numbers down” and must train up British workers so the UK did not “forget how to do things for ourselves.”

It is the second time questions about Mrs Braverman’s conduct have emerged during a row over immigration. Last October, while she was objecting to plans to allow more migrants into the country, Mrs Braverman resigned from Liz Truss’s Cabinet after it emerged that she had sent an official document to a colleague from her personal email.

Tory MP Miriam Cates, an ally of Mrs Braverman, said it was “extremely worrying” that the Home Secretary was being subjected to personal attacks and “a concerted effort to discredit her” in a similar way to last October. “It is no coincidence that it’s in the same week that she had been very vocal about the need to put proper limits on legal migration which is clearly a contentious issue in Government,” said Ms Cates.

“She has had a lot of profile and prominence. There are many people who don’t agree with her view that we should limit legal immigration. If you put two and two together, it is perfectly possible it’s politically motivated. It is shocking anyone would leak this private information.”

Craig Mackinlay, a Tory MP, said: “It wasn’t at all unreasonable for a Home Secretary to do what she has asked. I see nothing wrong with that. I would call that fairly good common sense and then decide to take the points.”

There has been speculation in Whitehall that Mrs Braverman might be willing to resign if she feels immigration is not being tackled. However, the claims about her conduct would lessen the impact of such a move.

Further allegations emerged in The Guardian yesterday that Mrs Braverman had tried to avoid the final Commons vote on the Government’s small boats Bill despite an instruction for MPS to attend. The Home Office denied the claims as “drivel”.

Mrs Braverman was issued with a speeding notice by police last year after being caught outside London when she was attorney general, the Government’s most senior legal officer. She was offered the choice of paying the fine and receiving three points, attending a speed awareness course in lieu of points and the fine or challenging the speeding notice.

It was at this point that she asked civil servants if a private course could be arranged. Officials refused the request so Mrs Braverman allegedly turned to a political aide to assist her in attempting to arrange an alternative to having to attend a course with other motorists. She

accepted three points on her license and paid the fine. She is said to have notified the Cabinet Office after being handed the speeding ticket.

Labour last night demanded Mr Sunak “show some backbone” and order an investigation into the claims by Sir Laurie Magnus, his ethics adviser.

David Penman, general secretary of the union representing senior civil servants, said it was inappropriate for Mrs Braverman to have approached civil servants on a personal issue where there was a conflict of interest, as the minister responsible for policing.

He said he understood civil servants were concerned enough to seek advice from the Cabinet Office, which would “suggest that serious concerns were being raised by this.” Sources close to the Home Secretary said she was seeking advice where she was “trying to understand” what she could do rather than make any “direction” to civil servants.

The Prime Minister opened the door to a sleaze investigation into Mrs Bravermat, as it was confirmed he would speak to Sir Laurie.

Nick Freeman, a motoring lawyer known as Mr Loophole, said high profile figures often complete speed awareness courses in private and that Ms Braverman had “not broken the law, nor has she done anything wrong”.