Will Rishi Sunak sack UK home secretary Suella Braverman?

Are Suella Braverman’s days in the UK government numbered? That’s the question many are asking after the UK home secretary caused an uproar by claiming that pro-Palestinian protesters were “hate marchers” and accusing the London Police of being on the side of “mobs.” This comes just days after Braverman in a high-octane speech slammed unauthorised migrants, human rights laws and “woke” critics of her hard-line policies. It has been reported that UK prime minister Rishi Sunak is now under pressure from his own party to sack the right-wing firebrand. But what happened exactly? And will Braverman get the boot? Let’s take a closer look: What happened? Braverman kicked off the row by accusing the police of being partial to pro-Palestinian marchers. Braverman claimed the London’s Metropolitan Police force was ignoring lawbreaking by “pro-Palestinian mobs.” She also added fuel to the fire by calling demonstrators demanding a cease-fire in Gaza as “hate marchers.” Pro-Palestinian protests have been held in London and other British cities every weekend since the war began more than a month ago. The government has criticised organisers for planning a march on Saturday because it is Armistice Day, the anniversary of the end of World War I, when many in Britain pause to remember victims of war. As per The Guardian, London police chief Mark Rowley has said he cannot ban the Saturday march.

Protests can be banned in Britain only if there is a risk of serious disorder.

Police said that threshold has not been met, though they are worried that “breakaway groups intent on fueling disorder” may show up, including far-right activists. The march is a day before the main Remembrance Sunday commemorations, when King Charles III, senior politicians, diplomats, military leaders and veterans are to attend a wreath-laying ceremony at the Cenotaph war memorial in central London. The planned route does not pass close to the monument, which is steps from Parliament. [caption id=“attachment_12978992” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] Uk home secretary Suella Braverman has slammed protesters. Reuters[/caption] Sunak has criticised planned protests on Remembrance weekend as “provocative and disrespectful.” But Sunak changed his tune after Wednesday talks with Rowley saying the government backed “the right to peacefully protest. And the test of that freedom is whether our commitment to it can survive the discomfort and frustration of those who seek to use it, even if we disagree with them.” While that appeared to end the dispute, Braverman escalated it dramatically by publishing a piece in the Times of London. “I do not believe that these marches are merely a cry for help for Gaza,” Braverman wrote. She accused the police of acting more leniently toward pro-Palestinian demonstrators and Black Lives Matter supporters than to right-wing protesters or soccer hooligans. Braverman said “there is a perception that senior police officers play favorites when it comes to protesters.” “During COVID why was it that lockdown objectors were given no quarter by public order police yet Black Lives Matter demonstrators were enabled, allowed to break rules and even greeted with officers taking the knee?” “Right-wing and nationalist protesters who engage in aggression are rightly met with a stern response yet pro-Palestinian mobs displaying almost identical behaviour are largely ignored, even when clearly breaking the law?” “They are an assertion of primacy by certain groups – particularly Islamists – of the kind we are more used to seeing in Northern Ireland. Also disturbingly reminiscent of Ulster are the reports that some of Saturday’s march group organisers have links to terrorist groups, including Hamas.” Braverman, a 43-year-old lawyer, has become a leader of the party’s populist wing by advocating ever-tougher curbs on migration and a war on human rights protections, liberal social values and what she has called the “tofu-eating wokerati.” The home secretary is responsible for law and order and immigration policy, including the government’s stalled plan to send asylum-seekers who arrive in Britain in boats on a one-way trip to Rwanda. Will Braverman get the boot? Sunak’s spokesperson, Max Blain, said Braverman’s article had not been approved by the prime minister’s office before publication, but that Sunak still had full confidence in the home secretary. “The content was not agreed by No 10,” the spokesperson was quoted as saying by The Guardian. “We are looking into what happened in this instance around the op-ed. We will update if appropriate.”

The newspaper reported that changes were recommended to the piece but not made.

However, the BBC reported that some changed were indeed made but others were not after a “back and forth” between the Home Office and 10 Downing Street. “Ignore the guff about the prime minister having “full confidence” in the home secretary. That is always true of every minister, until it isn’t - when they’re out. So it is strictly true, but it tells us nothing,” the BBC piece noted. Asked if Sunak agreed with Braverman with regard to the police, the spokesperson said, “The prime minister continues to believe the police will operate without fear or favour.” Critics of Braverman accuse her of trying to position herself for a party leadership contest that could come if the Conservatives lose power in an election expected next year. Opinion polls for months have put the party 15 to 20 points behind Labour. Meanwhile, politicians from all sides are piling on the pressure on Sunak. “The police should never be involved in politics and politicians should never get involved in policing operations. The police must police without fear or favour and it is a very dangerous precedent to state otherwise,” Nickie Aiken, the Tory deputy chair and MP for the central London constituency told The Guardian. [caption id=“attachment_13373642” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] Protesters dance on a street during a pro-Palestine demonstration, near Israel’s Embassy in London in June. Reuters[/caption] “This protest should not be stopped unless there is credible intelligence that the police decide means it needs to be stopped. It has to be the police’s choice. These protests should not be stopped by political whim.” “That is absolutely a sackable offence. It’s putting two fingers up to the prime minister. I assume she’s trying to get sacked and I hope she succeeds,” a senior Tory MP told Financial Times. Colum Eastwood, leader of the Irish nationalist Social Democratic and Labour Party, said Braverman showed “ignorance of the conditions faced by the civilian population in Gaza, ignorance of the role of the Met police, ignorance of the complex history and traditions of marching and protest in Northern Ireland.” “She has managed to offend just about everyone – no mean feat in a divided society,” he said. “It’s honestly like reading a pound shop Enoch Powell piece,” he was quoted as saying by The Guardian. Powell was the former UK health secretary and Conservative MP who delivered the infamous and inflammatory “rivers of blood” speech. Labour leader Keir Starmer claimed Sunak’s unwillingness to fire Braverman showed weakness on the prime minister’s part. “He must know that this isn’t the way that a home secretary should behave,” he said. “He must know in himself that the role of responsible government is to reduce tension and to support police in the difficult decisions they have to make.” Starmer has claimed that Braverman is “out of control” and stoking division. “Suella Braverman is out of control,” Yvette Cooper of Labour posted on X. “Her article tonight is a highly irresponsible, dangerous attempt to undermine respect for police at a sensitive time, to rip up operational independence & to inflame community tensions. No other Home Secretary of any party would ever do this.” Cooper was further quoted as saying by The Guardian, “Does this government still believe in the operational independence of the police, and how can it do so while this home secretary is in post, and did the prime minister and No 10 agree to the content of this article? “Because either the prime minister has endorsed this or he’s too weak to sack her.” Sky quoted Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey as saying Braverman was “putting police officers in harm’s way”. “The home secretary’s irresponsible words and foul actions have significantly increased the likelihood of unrest this weekend and the risk of violence towards officers,” Davey added. So, what does Sunak do? A minister close to Sunak told Financial Times, “She will be sacked in the reshuffle. She has no troops.”

“Half the party has told the PM to sack her,” an ex- cabinet minister added.

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But the BBC piece argued that Sunak has few good options. “Some loyal to Mr Sunak are pointing to the Ministerial Code, and pondering that the home secretary may have broken it. Convention says that is a sackable offence. But then again Rishi Sunak appointed her as home secretary about a week after she’d lost the job for breaking the Ministerial Code,” the piece read. The code states that the policy content and timing of all major press releases, interviews and appearances should be cleared by No 10 “to ensure the effective coordination of cabinet business”. The piece also noted that Britain’s Supreme Court is set to rule on Braverman’s Rwanda policy. “Does the prime minister want her in post for that moment, or not? If the plan is on and she’s in post, her position would be hugely strengthened.  Suella Braverman is making news. Not for the first time. And not for the last,” the piece noted. With inputs from agencies