Politics

Suella Braverman is back as home secretary and people are furious

Suella Braverman is back as home secretary and people are furious
Former home secretary Suella Braverman arrives at No 10 ahead of cabinet …
Indy

Suella Braverman is back as home secretary following a relaxed week off after breaking the ministerial code.

The home secretary signed out from Liz Truss’s administration last week after admitting to sending an official document deemed “sensitive” from her personal email.

Downing Street had shared immigration proposals with the home secretary, which she then attempted to email to John Hayes. But she also accidentally sent it to a staff member of another Tory MP who shares Hayes’s surname. It happens to the best of us and the worst of us clearly but Braverman did the Right Thing and bowed out.

“I have made a mistake; I accept responsibility; I resign,” she said, adding she had “serious concerns” about Truss’s commitment to the 2019 manifesto.

But then Truss passed the baton to Rishi Sunak in the relay race that is Tory leadership and Sunak decided he wanted Braverman back.

Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter

Rishi is already being fishy so people were not pleased with the news.

Alistair Graham, the former chair of the committee on standards in public life, said: “Normally the prime minister would have consulted a ministerial adviser for advice. A breach of the ministerial code is seen as a serious matter and would make any minister an inappropriate appointment to one of the four most senior positions in government.”

But she was defended by foreign secretary James Cleverly on Sky News this morning, when he was asked how Braverman's appointment matches Sunak's pledge to lead with “integrity, professionalism and accountability".

"Suella made a mistake," Cleverly said before saying she had apologised and had good plans for her time in office.

"This was no minor mistake," presenter Niall Paterson said.

Meanwhile it comes after Braverman launched an attack on those among us who dare to eat tofu. With her resignation, vegetarians thought they were safe. Now they are not so sure.

As if we needed another reason for a general election.

It is a simple and fundamental principle that the government derives its democratic legitimacy from the people. The future of the country must not be decided by plotting and U-turns at Westminster; it must be decided by the people in a general election. And for this reason The Independent is calling for an election to be held. Have your say and sign our election petition by clicking here.

Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

The Conversation (0)
x