Braverman sacked from cabinet job amidst reshuffle
By Connor Steel
FAREHAM MP Suella Braverman has been sacked from her position as ‘British Home Secretary’ with immediate effect as Prime Minister Rishi Sunak undertook a significant ‘cabinet reshuffle’ on Monday; the controversial politician leaving this role for a second time in thirteen months after defying Number 10 over a newspaper article published on Thursday.
The former Home Secretary was accused of stoking tension across Central London over Remembrance weekend after accusing the Metropolitan Police of bias in their policing of protests linked to the continuing Israel-Hamas conflict in her Times article. These comments drew criticism and it was later said that Downing Street hadn’t fully agreed its contents.
Far-right protesters later clashed with police in London across Armistice Day as ugly scenes unfolded either side of the two minute silence, leading to over one hundred arrests on the day. Investigations are currently ongoing into footage of a mostly peaceful pro-Palestinian march nearby; which included racist chants / placards and dressing up as “terrorists”.
Ms Braverman doubled down on these arguments in a social media post on Sunday that came just hours after she had laid a wreath at the ‘Cenotaph’ to mark Remembrance Sunday. It followed her controversial comments about homeless people and migration this Autumn, whilst the opposition called Mr Sunak “weak” for not acting on this language sooner.
News of her sacking was confirmed just before 8:40am on Monday (November 13) and kickstarted the Prime Minister’s reshuffle into action; the Home Secretary role being taken by James Cleverley. And in a ‘shocking’ development former Prime Minister David Cameron was confirmed as Foreign Secretary after being announced as a House of Lords’ ‘peer’.
In a short statement Ms Braverman said that “I will have more to say in due course”. This led to media speculation that she is about to launch another leadership bid for the Conservative Party and would follow the same path seen in 2022 as the Fareham MP missed out on the final round of voting after she resigned the same role due to a “security breach”.
Loyal supporters of Ms Braverman have reportingly met in Parliament this evening to discuss next steps, whilst Andrea Jenkyns sent her ‘letter of no confidence’ in the Prime Minister. This comes just two days before the Supreme Count is due to offer their rulings on the Government’s controversial Rwanda scheme which is aimed to reduce UK immigration.
The Prime Minister further changed a range of other cabinet jobs with Steve Barclay named the Environment Secretary and Victoria Atkins replacing him as Health Secretary. Jeremy Hunt remains as ‘Chancellor’, Penny Mordaunt stays the Leader of the House and Claire Coutinho is continuing her role as Energy Secretary; as does Kemi Badenock in Trade.
Mel Stride (Work & Pensions), Mark Harper (Transport) and Gillian Keegan (Education) all survived the latest reshuffle, which saw the resignations of multiple ministers across a number of departments. Therese Coffey further quit from her role as Environment Secretary after nine years as a Cabinet secretary; representing all of the Tory leaders since 2014.
Readers are encouraged to explore media links like BBC News, Sky News and ITV News for fresh developing updates on this breaking story; which will include coverage from the Supreme Court on Wednesday and this reshuffle ‘reaction’.
PICTURED BY ALAMY (2T6WEMB): Suella Braverman and Rishi Sunak pictured at Remembrance Sunday ceremony.
