Braverman ‘has more to say’ as Right rally behind ousted MP
Jenkyns hands in letter of no-confidence in PM and says party needs a leader to stand up for conservatism
SUELLA BRAVERMAN insisted yesterday that she had “more to say” as Tory Right-wingers turned against Rishi Sunak in the wake of her sacking as home secretary.
The Prime Minister dismissed her from the role, saying he wanted a “united team to deliver the changes this country needs for the long term”.
Mrs Braverman put out a short statement, saying: “It has been the greatest privilege of my life to serve as Home Secretary. I will have more to say in due course.”
The decision sparked anger at Mr Sunak, with one MP, Dame Andrea Jenkyns, submitting a letter of no confidence. She said “enough is enough” and the party needed a leader “to stand up and fight for true conservatism”.
Forcing Boris Johnson out over partygate was “unforgivable enough”, she said, but “to purge the centre-right from his Cabinet and then sack Suella, who was the only person in the Cabinet with the balls to speak the truth of the appalling state of our streets and a twotier policing system that leaves the Jewish
community in fear for their lives and safety”.
A senior backbencher said: “Any remaining hope of winning the general election died today.”
Sir Jacob Rees-mogg, a former business secretary, criticised the dismissal of Mrs Braverman, saying: “I think firing her is a mistake, and that she understood what the country wanted and needed in terms of migration, and I think it raises questions about the seriousness of the Government in tackling illegal migration.”
Members of the New Conservatives Group, made up of predominantly Red Wall MPS who won their seats in the 2019 election, held their weekly meeting yesterday night.
A source close to them said: “Across the group, there’s a lot of upset about Suella in particular. But broadly it’s about the overall direction of travel signalled by the six, seven, eight, nine appointments so far in the aggregate.”
Another said any coordinated backlash against Mr Sunak’s dramatic reshuffle and Mrs Braverman’s sacking would happen in “slow motion”, and they were happy to let No 10 “have their day”.
Mr Sunak is understood to have spoken to Mrs Braverman over the phone to ask her to resign. There was no exchange of letters between the pair – a highly unusual situation that perhaps highlights the bitterness of the move.
A No 10 source said: “Suella has gone because the Prime Minister wants a united team to deliver the changes this country needs for the long term.”
Mrs Braverman was replaced as Home Secretary by James Cleverly, the former foreign secretary.
Later, Mr Sunak’s press secretary said the Prime Minister believes collective responsibility is a “very important principle” and that senior ministers should always “speak with one voice”.
There were “issues around language” during the former home secretary’s tenure, the press secretary said, adding: “It is clearly very important that we have a united and strong team at the top of Government.
“I would say there were differences of style and it’s right that we can move forward now and focus on what matters to people.”
Mrs Braverman’s position had been under pressure since last week when she wrote an unauthorised article in The Times in which she criticised the Metropolitan Police for a “double standard” over its handling of protests.
She also hit out at “pro-palestinian mobs” and said protest scenes were “disturbingly reminiscent” of those seen in Northern Ireland.
Mrs Braverman was accused by some of exacerbating tensions ahead of some of the extreme Right-wing violence seen at Saturday’s Armistice Day events in Whitehall.
Downing Street said the day after the article was published that it had not been signed off, raising questions over her position.
Mrs Braverman was appointed as home secretary by Liz Truss but had to resign six weeks later when it emerged she had breached the ministerial code by sharing an official document from her personal email address with a colleague in Parliament.
She was reappointed six days later, by which time Mr Sunak had become prime minister. He said she had “made an error of judgment but she recognised that, she raised the matter and she accepted her mistake”.
Mrs Braverman became a highly controversial Home Secretary, facing criticism for using words such as “invasion” to describe illegal immigration.
She also described immigration as a “hurricane” and claimed that homeless people in tents had made a “lifestyle choice”, both of which comments the Prime Minister refused to endorse.
Earlier this month, she criticised a pro-palestinian march scheduled for Armistice Day, citing “reports that some of Saturday’s march group organisers have links to terrorist groups, including Hamas”.
In a controversial article for The Times, she claimed there was “a perception that senior police officers play favourites when it comes to protesters” and were tougher on Right-wing extremists than pro-palestinian “mobs”.
That sparked calls for her resignation for “fanning the flames of division”, in the words of Humza Yousaf, the Scottish First Minister.
Speaking in the Commons yesterday, Labour’s Wes Streeting described Mrs Braverman as the “worst home secretary in history”.
The public seemed to back Mr Sunak’s decision to sack the home secretary, with 57 per cent of respondents to a snap Yougov poll saying it was the right move, while 20 per cent disagreed.