LONDON: British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has sacked Suella Braverman as home secretary after she was blamed for inciting tension and racial hatred over Armistice Day protests and said London police had taken the side of leftist pro-Palestinian protesters – including fake news and unverified attacks on the people of Pakistan. in country.
Before his dismissal, Braverman had angered the Labor Party, Muslim groups, left-wing groups including Jews, migrant groups and a large section of the liberal sections of his party through his sleazy statements and deliberate provocations designed to appeal to the far-right. Gave. For groups within the ruling Conservative Party and extremists who are against immigrants and left-wing politics.
He openly challenged PM Sunak when he refused to accept changes made to his article published last week many times And decided to publish her article exactly as she wanted, criticizing the Metropolitan Police and encouraging far-right groups who gathered in London on Saturday and attacked the police. That article is the main reason behind his humiliating dismissal.
He claimed in the article that “there was a perception that senior police officers played a preferred role when it came to protesters” and were tougher on right-wing extremists than pro-Palestinian “mobs”.
The article compares demonstrations demanding a ceasefire in Gaza with marches in Northern Ireland, mainly carried out by unionists. He described Muslims and others marching for peace in Palestine as “haters” and Hamas supporters.
Despite clear evidence that Islamophobia is on the rise and Muslims are under attack, he did everything he could to not support the Muslim community and issued statements that alienated them. It is believed that he did all this to run for the party leadership.
PM Sunak dismissed him on Monday morning.
Braverman’s dismissal follows weeks of controversy over how he pursued his far-right policy agenda and made a number of controversial statements, including describing homelessness as a “lifestyle choice.”
She made history by becoming the first Home Secretary in British history to be ousted from the same job in less than a year. Liz Truss was ordered to resign after several weeks in the job in October last year for sending confidential information to an MP from a private email address, in breach of the ministerial code.
Police and Labor had blamed Braverman for helping to inflame tensions that resulted in far-right groups clashing with police near the Cenotaph on Saturday, when hundreds of far-right activists attacked police.
He was widely blamed for the violence by the entire Labor Party, Muslim and left-wing groups and commentators and almost all called for his sacking, increasing tensions. They generally campaigned against pro-Palestinian marchers but it is widely believed that their real targets were British Muslims and leftist groups supporting Palestinian independence.
It is Prime Minister Rishi Sunak who sacked him for the reasons he openly challenged his authority as Prime Minister.
Ironically, the 43-year-old anti-immigrant politician is the child of immigrant parents. She wants to deport immigrants and jail them abroad.
Braverman was born Sue-Ellen Fernandes in Harrow, north-west London, the only child of Christian Goan-born Kenyan Christy Fernandes and Indian-born Mauritian Uma Fernandes, who both came to the UK in the 1960s. ,
Named after Sue Ellen Ewing, the lead female character on the 1980s American television drama Dallas, Braverman shortened her name when teachers began calling her Suella. He attended the fee-paying Heathfield School in outer London on a partial scholarship.
Braverman studied law at Queens’ College, Cambridge, and became president of the University Conservative Association. He also studied for two years at the Sorbonne in France. He practiced as a barrister in both the UK and US before becoming involved in politics full-time.
She lost her first election in 2005 but reached the Commons in 2015. In 2018, under then-Prime Minister Theresa May, she became a junior Brexit minister, before moving on to her first cabinet job under May’s successor Boris Johnson. Attorney General, exactly two years later.
She entered Parliament as Suella Fernandes, but changed her surname to Braverman in 2018 after marrying Mercedes-Benz manager Rael Braverman. She has described her husband as a “proud Jew and Zionist”.
“My husband is a proud Jew and Zionist. He lives in Israel. Close members of our family serve in the IDF,” she said. Jewish Chronicle in a recent interview
She has constantly been at the center of controversies.
market bill
As Attorney General, Suella Braverman drew criticism from the legal profession for supporting the Internal Market Bill, which was described as breaking international law “in a limited and specific way”. Braverman remained a staunch supporter of the bill, leading to accusations that he had sacrificed the UK’s reputation and jeopardized the Good Friday Agreement.
dream of exile
Braverman has been a leading proponent of the government’s plan to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda if they cross the Channel in small boats.
The policy has drawn widespread condemnation from human rights groups, and Braverman was criticized after telling an event at the 2022 Tory conference that it was his “dream” to deport people to Rwanda.
india deal
A major trade deal between Britain and India was reported to be “on the brink of collapse” after Braverman expressed “reservations” about the possibility of allowing more immigration from India and said visas for Indian citizens There was a problem of overstaying. A government spokesperson said the UK and India have close and positive relations.
security breach
Braverman was effectively sacked as Home Secretary at the end of Liz Truss’s premiership in October 2022, after it emerged that she had leaked confidential cabinet papers to right-wing backbencher John Hayes.
An investigation found that he had sent confidential documents to his personal email address on several occasions during his time as Home Secretary, in addition to leaking a draft of a ministerial statement to John. Following his return to government a few days later, when he was re-appointed by Rishi Sunak, controversy reignited but Braverman survived.
Migrant ‘invasion’
Soon after his return to government, Braverman again courted controversy by describing the arrival of asylum seekers on the south coast as an “invasion”.
His comments came days after a man threw a firebomb at a migrant processing center in Kent and migrant support groups compared his words to language used by the far-right. He was confronted over his comments by Holocaust survivor Joan Salter, but Braverman said he would not apologize “for the language I have used to demonstrate the scale of the problem”.
Grooming Gang article
in a comment section daily Mail In April 2023, Braverman claimed that child grooming gangs in the UK were “almost all British-Pakistani”. Muslim groups, medical bodies and others accused her of “promoting far-right narratives” about British-Pakistani men, but she stood by her comments in a follow-up article. the audience,
In October, the regulator the Independent Press Standards Organization found that the claim was “grossly misleading” as Home Office research had concluded that the perpetrators were mostly from white backgrounds.
Driving Awareness Course
In May, PM Sunak faced calls to launch an investigation into Braverman following claims he asked civil servants to do a private driving awareness course for him after he was caught speeding in 2022 Had violated the ministerial code by asking to make arrangements.
The Prime Minister decided not to launch an investigation after consulting his ethics advisor, and concluded that Braverman’s actions were not a breach of the code, even though “better action could have been taken to avoid giving rise to the perception of impropriety.” Was” .
Asylum seekers are ‘pretending to be gay’
In September, Suella Braverman sparked outrage from LGBT+ groups after claiming there were “numerous examples” where asylum seekers pretended to be gay or transgender in order to “game the system” and get “special treatment” Was.
He also said that being a victim of discrimination on LGBT+ grounds should not be enough to qualify for asylum.
Human rights activists and prominent celebrities spoke out against his comments, with Elton John saying that Braverman risked “further legitimizing hatred and violence” against LGBT+ people.
Multiculturalism a ‘failure’
In a speech on migration to the US in September, Braverman said that multiculturalism in Britain has “failed” and is threatening security.
PM Sunak distanced himself from his comments, which some commentators considered part of a pitch for the Conservative leadership should the Prime Minister lead his party to defeat in the next election.
Homelessness a ‘lifestyle choice’
Earlier this month, homelessness charities criticized Braverman over an alleged plan to stop providing tents to rough sleepers and claims that homelessness is a “lifestyle choice”.
The proposals did not appear in Tuesday’s King’s Speech, but the prime minister has not ruled out including them in a sweeping criminal justice bill.
Police ‘Favorite Game’
Amid concerns over several pro-Palestine marches in Britain and the use of anti-Semitic language, Braverman accused police of “playing favorites” by tolerating demonstrations while using strong-arm tactics against right-wing protests.
Downing Street said it did not approve of the comments, which some described as “divisive” and “inflammatory” and led to fresh calls for his dismissal.
He was dismissed in a cabinet reshuffle the following week.
What will happen next?
It is understood that Suella Braverman will try to woo the hard-right in the Tory party so that she can be elected the next Tory leader, but her statements from the past will haunt her because it is her ruthless ambitions that have brought her to this level of controversy and division. Have brought.
