Gareth David
Suella Braverman has been removed as Home Secretary by the Prime Minister.
The move comes after she released an article on Wednesday in The Times, without the permission of Downing Street, that accused the Metropolitan Police and its officers of bias when it came to policing protests. The article had not been cleared by Downing Street nor did it make changes that had been put forward by No. 10.
Her statements on homelessness as a “lifestyle choice” have drew significant criticism
Braverman’s comments in recent weeks regarding the pro-Palestinian marches and her statements on homelessness as a “lifestyle choice” have drew significant criticism from both Labour and Conservative members.
Sir Bob Neill, the Chair of Parliament’s Justice Select Committee, was the first Tory publicly calling for her resignation, but others soon followed suit. Homeless charities and organisations had also called for her resignation; Crisis, Centrepoint, St Mungo’s and Pathway wrote a letter condemning Braverman’s comments about tents in urban areas and how she placed the blame for them mostly on people “from abroad”.
Despite the mounting anger and calls for Braverman’s resignation, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak offered no comment leading to criticism of his leadership, with Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer accusing the Prime Minister of being “too weak to do anything about it”.
Disorder on Armistice Day led to 145 arrests, with nearly all of them being members of the right-wing counter-protests
Braverman was accused of stoking tension between the Met and right-wing groups ahead of pro-Palestinian protests that were planned to take place in London over the weekend, suggesting that policing was harsher against right-wing counter-protests over pro-Palestinian demonstrations Braverman called “hate marches”.
The BBC reported that disorder on Armistice Day led to 145 arrests, with nearly all of them being members of the right-wing counter-protests. Seven men were charged for numerous offences including inciting racial hatred. The Met condemned the actions from right-wing counter-protesters.
Whilst no official reason has been given for the sacking of Braverman, a mixture of politicians and political observers have cited the aggression of the right-wing counter protests as a significant factor. The sacking of Braverman as Home Secretary has been the start of a full cabinet reshuffle from the Prime Minister with James Cleverly taking on the role of Home Secretary and David Cameron having a rushed appointment to the house of Lords in order to take on the role of Foreign Secretary.
“Getting rid of Suella is a mistake” (Jacob Rees-Mogg)
Upon being replaced in her role, Braverman said: “It has been the greatest privilege of my life to serve as Home Secretary. I will have more to say in due course.” There has been vocal support from former minister Jacob Rees Mogg, who told Channel 4 News “getting rid of Suella is a mistake”.
As the reshuffle continues and a new cabinet emerges it remains to be seen whether this marks a change in fortunes for the Conservative party or if Sunak is just filling deck chairs on the Titanic.
Gareth David
Featured image courtesy of Jamie Street via Unsplash. Image license found here. No changes were made to this image.
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