Rishi Sunak sacked his Home Secretary Suella Braverman on Monday, POLITICO reports.
The minister’s sacking came after a bitter row over police action during a pro-Palestine march on the streets of London. James Cleverly has been appointed in her place.
Last week, Braverman published a scathing article in the Times newspaper accusing the police of treating Palestinian protesters too favourably than nationalists and the far right. Sunak’s team at 10 Downing Street did not sign off the article. She will be succeeded by Cleverly, who is moving from the Foreign Secretary post, which in turn was taken up by former Prime Minister David Cameron. A No.10 official said:
Rishi Sunak has asked Suella Braverman to leave government and she has accepted.
Suella Braverman noted:
It has been the greatest privilege of my life to serve as home secretary. I will have more to say in due course.
The acting minister’s resignation comes after violence erupted in London on Saturday and after a series of controversial remarks that tested the prime minister’s authority while also winning the approval of parts of the Tory party.
Far-right demonstrators who had vowed to protect war memorials from a pro-Palestinian demonstration clashed with police, and some of those who separated from the main demonstration behaved in a “threatening manner”, the Metropolitan Police said in a statement. Police said Sunday night that 145 people had been arrested so far in connection with the demonstration, with the “vast majority” being counter-protesters.
After the demonstration, the Metropolitan Police said that “a week of intense debate about protests and policing” had contributed to “rising tensions in the community”. This was seen as a veiled reference to Braverman’s criticism of the police.
Britain’s police force is operationally independent of the government, and the opposition Labour Party accused Braverman, whose duties include policing, of “demeaning” her post by questioning the judgement of senior officers.
In response to Braverman’s sacking, her ally and Conservative MP Andrea Jenkins said the former Home Secretary had been sacked “for telling the truth”. She wrote on the X website:
Bad call by Rishi caving in to the left!
Fellow support Jacob Rees-Mogg, a former Cabinet minister, told GB News:
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 prime minister is not as well attuned to the voters’ concerns as Suella Braverman.
