Former British Home Secretary Suella Braverman lashed out Tuesday in a letter to British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak the day after she was sacked as part of a Cabinet shuffle. A controversial figure in British politics and an outspoken hard-liner on immigration issues, she is considered a leader on the right wing of Mr. Sunak’s ruling Conservative Party.
Ms. Braverman’s dismissal came after she accused British police officials of bias in the way they handled the ongoing anti-Israel protests in the United Kingdom tied to the war in Gaza, protests the minister said were taking on an increasingly antisemitic tone.
After some 13 years in power, the Conservatives trail the center-left opposition Labour Party badly ahead of elections next year. The Cabinet shuffle was seen as a move by Mr. Sunak to shake up the political dynamic and give the Tories a fighting chance of preserving their majority next year. However, the very public break with Ms. Braverman, who has strong support among the Conservative Party base, may undercut those hopes.
The position of home secretary in Britain is roughly analogous to the attorney general in the U.S. Mr. Sunak moved James Cleverly, who was most recently the foreign secretary, into her post while bringing back the polarizing former Prime Minister David Cameron to be the new foreign secretary.
In her resignation letter, Ms. Braverman said the prime minister “manifestly and repeatedly failed to deliver” on every promise he made to her when she agreed to join his government, including reducing overall legal migration to the U.K. and issuing guidance to schools to allow parents to know what is being taught to their children.
“Despite you having been rejected by a majority of Party members during the summer leadership contest and thus having no personal mandate to be prime minister, I agreed to support you because of the firm assurances you gave me,” Ms. Braverman wrote in her letter that was posted on social media. “It is generally agreed that my support was a pivotal factor in winning the leadership contest and thus enabling you to become prime minister.”
Ms. Braverman said she spent a year sending letters and messages to Mr. Sunak, asking for an opportunity to discuss the issues with him and his team. She said her attempts were met with “equivocation, disregard, and a lack of interest.”
“These are not just pet interests of mine. They are what we promised the British people in our 2019 manifesto which led to a landslide victory. They are what people voted for in the 2016 Brexit referendum,” she wrote. “Our deal was no mere promise over dinner, to be discarded when convenient and denied when challenged.”
Mr. Sunak’s office in a statement defended the prime minister’s record on tackling illegal immigration and said the Cabinet shake-up had put the government on a firmer footing heading into the election year.
“The prime minister was proud to appoint a strong, united team yesterday focused on delivering for the British people,” his Downing Street office said in a statement.
Most recently, Ms. Braver said she was disappointed by what she called Mr. Sunak’s “failure to rise to the challenge” posed by the “increasingly vicious antisemitism and extremism” that she said has surfaced in Britain since Hamas launched its terror attack into Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
“Your response has been uncertain, weak and lacking in the qualities of leadership that this country needs,” she wrote. “As on so many other issues, you sought to put off tough decisions in order to minimize political risk to yourself. In doing so, you have increased the very real risk these marchers present to everyone else.”
While she lost her Cabinet position, Ms. Braverman will continue to serve in the House of Commons. She said Mr. Sunak needs to “change course very quickly.”
“I will, of course, continue to support the government in pursuit of policies which align with an authentic conservative agenda,” Ms. Braverman wrote.
The unusually public and stark break between two leading Conservative figures — Ms. Braverman sought the prime minister’s office before bowing out to Mr. Sunak last year in an intra-party battle — is being seen as an effort by the ousted home secretary to position herself for party leadership after Labour’s widely expected win next year.
• Mike Glenn can be reached at mglenn@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.