Suella Braverman today issued a warning shot to Rishi Sunak after the Prime Minister sacked her as Home Secretary as part of a dramatic reshuffle.
The now departed Cabinet minister vowed she would ‘have more to say’ after her removal from the top rank of Government.
Mr Sunak was also facing anger among Mrs Braverman’s supporters on the Tory Right, with some lamenting how she had been fired for ‘speaking the truth’.
The PM was told he had further damaged the Tories’ chances ahead of the general election, as Mrs Braverman ‘understands what the country thinks’.
There will be concern in No10 about managing internal party tensions in the wake of the PM’s decision to remove Mrs Braverman from the Home Office.
She is highly regarded among some of her colleagues – who view her as a future Tory leader – for her hardline stance on issues such as migration.
Suella Braverman issued a warning shot to Rishi Sunak after the Prime Minister sacked her as Home Secretary
Rishi Sunak is also facing anger among Mrs Braverman’s supporters on the Tory Right, with some lamenting how she had been fired for ‘speaking the truth’
The PM removed Mrs Braverman from the Home Office following fierce rows over her comments on the homeless and pro-Palestine marches in London
Mrs Braverman’s first words this morning after her sacking suggested she would not be making a quiet return to the back benches in the House of Commons.
‘It has been the greatest privilege of my life to serve as Home Secretary,’ she said. ‘I will have more to say in due course.’
There is a threat to Mr Sunak that she will now join a growing list of his outspoken critics on the Tory back benches, which also includes ex-PM Liz Truss.
It had already been widely speculated that Mrs Braverman was using outspoken interventions while Home Secretary to position herself ahead of a future Tory leadership contest, should Mr Sunak lose the next general election.
There had even been claims she had been attempting to engineer her sacking in order to boost her appeal as a hardliner on key issues.
The weeks before her sacking saw rows over her comments on migration, the homeless and – most recently – pro-Palestine demonstrations in London, which she labelled ‘hate marches’.
It was reported prior to her sacking that Mrs Braverman was also set to create a dividing line with Mr Sunak by pushing for Britain to quit the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) if the Supreme Court blocks the Government’s Rwanda migrant plan on Wednesday.
Judges are this week set to rule on whether the proposed asylum deal is lawful with respect to the UK’s obligations under international law.
According to the Mail on Sunday, Mrs Braverman favours running a ‘Quit The ECHR’ general election campaign – similar to Boris Johnson’s 2019 ‘Get Brexit Done’ slogan – but allies of the PM said he prefers more moderate options.
Ex-business secretary Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg claimed Mr Sunak had made a ‘mistake’ by firing Mrs Braverman
Conservative former education minister Andrea Jenkyns claimed Mrs Braverman had been fired for ‘speaking the truth’
Mrs Braverman’s sacking followed violent scenes in central London on Armistice Day as far-right supporters attempted to get near the Cenotaph
Mrs Braverman’s depature as Home Secretary means any battle between her and Mr Sunak over Britain’s membership of the ECHR will now be staged away from the Cabinet table.
The immediate reasons for her sacking by Mr Sunak appeared to be her recent description of homeless people making a ‘lifestyle choice’ to sleep rough, while she also infuriated No10 with an unauthorised newspaper article on pro-Palestine demonstrations planned for Armistice Day.
She claimed the police ‘play favourites’ towards pro-Palestinian supporters – compared to those protesting other causes – but her combative words were not signed-off by Downing Street.
When the weekend saw far-right thugs attempt to travel to the Cenotaph and clash with police, with some intent on confronting those on the pro-Palestine march, Mrs Braverman was accused of having stirred up the violent scenes in the capital.
Labour claimed she had ‘deliberately inflamed tensions’ around Remembrance weekend and made the police’s job harder by attacking them.
But Mrs Braverman’s supporters on the Tory Right rallied round her this morning in the wake of her sacking.
Conservative former education minister Andrea Jenkyns, posted on social media this morning: ‘I support @SuellaBraverman. Sacked for speaking the truth. Bad call by Rishi caving in to the left!’
Ex-business secretary Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg claimed Mr Sunak had made a ‘mistake’ by firing Mrs Braverman.
‘Suella understands what the country thinks about migration, the concerns the country has, is serious about it, [she] was determined to get it down,’ he told GB News.
‘Sometimes she’s spoken in a way that others are a bit squeamish about, but that’s not really the point.
‘The point is that as Home Secretary, she was committed to delivering something that the country thinks is important.’
Sir Jacob added: ‘I think from the point of view of the Conservatives winning the next election, today is a mistake because Suella understood what the British voter thought and was trying to do something about it.
‘It seems to me that the PM is not as well attuned to the voters’ concerns as Suella Braverman.’
Another Tory backbencher, Michael Fabricant, said: ‘I am sad to see Suella go – I think she was a strong Home Secretary with all the right instincts.’
But he also noted how Mrs Braverman had challenged Mr Sunak’s authority while she was Home Secretary.
‘All Prime Ministers need team players with self-discipline… and the team captain must be the Prime Minister,’ he added. ‘But I shall miss her on the front bench.’
Yvette Cooper, Labour’s shadow home secretary, said: ‘Suella Braverman has now been sacked twice as Home Secretary.
‘Rishi Sunak should never have re-appointed her in first place. He was warned against it and was warned on the damage she was doing.
‘He went along with her undermining the police. Buck still stops with this weak PM.’
