Suella Braverman hints at leadership ambitions with unusually personal pitch to Tory right
Given Suella Braverman is a senior government minister, her speech at the National Conservatism conference was heavy on the Suella stuff and light on the government stuff.
After being interrupted by two protesters (“write a letter” came the shout from the crowd), the home secretary opened with a lengthy explanation of her own backstory and how her family initially came to the UK.
“55 years ago, on a cold February morning in 1968, an Asian man, not yet 21, stepped off a plane at London Heathrow. There was no family to meet him, nor any friends. He had nothing to his name,” the home secretary said.
Affecting and stirring, yes – but in the grammar of political speeches, passages like this are more associated with Tory leadership contenders than sitting cabinet ministers.
What followed was an at times deeply philosophical and personal analysis of the conservative cause.
Soundbites were well-written, well-prepared and well-targeted to the right-wing audience in the hall and in her party.
“Those of us advancing unfashionable facts are beaten over the head with fashionable fictions,” she said – before giving the example of the “ethnicity of grooming gang perpetrators” and “the fact that 100% of women do not have a penis”.
There were references to William F Buckley, Michael Oakeshott and Irving Kristol – doyens of the conservative intellectual movement.
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Home sec’s double interruption
The “mutilation” of our children by “radical gender ideology” was railed against and the virtues of the family unit praised.
One of the few references to government policy came in the home secretary’s well-publicised comments about levels of legal migration.
But even here, this felt like a campaigning call to influence the position of ministers, rather than remarks from the person who literally has control over the policy.
On this, the practical and political backdrop matters.
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Legal migration is running at record levels, with data due later this month that may show up to one million more people arriving in the country compared to those leaving.
While the Cameron-era promise of getting numbers down to the tens of thousands has been scrapped, the government is still committed to reducing overall levels.
But there’s something of a push and pull in the cabinet over how to do that.
Plans to put limits on the number of family members overseas students can bring with them ran into resistance from the education secretary and chancellor over concerns that it may put off the brightest and best from coming to the country.
Economic issues loom large as well, with businesses depending on overseas labour to fill vacancy gaps.
Ms Braverman unsuccessfully ran to be party leader in 2022
In this context, the home secretary’s remarks can be seen as a not-so-subtle flexing of her own political muscle on an issue that has the potential to damage her and the government.
But something else could be going on as well.
It was only a few days ago that another gathering of right-wing conservatives took place in Bournemouth, with the aim of discussing the way forward for the Tory party.
The result of the next general election is still anything but certain.
But if Rishi Sunak is to lose, it seems clear that those behind these conferences will want their vision to figure heavily in the debate about the party’s future.
After Suella Braverman’s speech, it’s not hard to see who many in this movement would want as their figurehead.
US president-elect Donald Trump has suggested Israel and Hamas could agree a Gaza ceasefire by the end of the week.
Talks between Israeli and Hamas representatives resumed in the Qatari capital Doha yesterday, after US President Joe Biden indicated a deal to stop the fighting was “on the brink” on Monday.
A draft agreement has been sent to both sides. It includes provisions for the release of hostages and a phased Israeli troop withdrawal from Gaza.
Qatar says Israel and Hamas are at their “closest point” yet to a ceasefire deal.
Two Hamas officials said the group has accepted the draft agreement, with Israel still considering the deal.
An Israeli official said a deal is close but “we are not there” yet.
More than 46,500 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since Israel launched its ground offensive in the aftermath of the 7 October attacks, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry.
Read more:
What’s in the proposed deal?
Palestinians inspect the site of an Israeli strike on beachfront cafe in Deir al Balah. Pic: Reuters
Biden hails possibility of agreement
President Biden said it would include a hostage release deal and a “surge” of aid to Palestinians, in his final foreign policy speech as president.
“So many innocent people have been killed, so many communities have been destroyed. Palestinian people deserve peace,” he said.
“The deal would free the hostages, halt the fighting, provide security to Israel, and allow us to significantly surge humanitarian assistance to the Palestinians who suffered terribly in this war that Hamas started.”
Qatari mediators have sent Israel and Hamas a draft proposal for an agreement to halt the fighting.
Analysis:
Deal might be close, but there are many unanswered questions
Pic: Reuters
Trump: ‘We’re very close’
President-elect Donald Trump has also discussed a possible peace deal during a phone interview with the Newsmax channel.
“We’re very close to getting it done and they have to get it done,” he said.
“If they don’t get it done, there’s going to be a lot of trouble out there, a lot of trouble, like they have never seen before.
“And they will get it done. And I understand there’s been a handshake and they’re getting it finished and maybe by the end of the week. But it has to take place, it has to take place.”
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Pic: AP
Israeli official: Former Hamas leader held up deal
Speaking on Tuesday as negotiations resumed in Qatar, an anonymous Israeli official said that an agreement was “close, but we are not there”.
They accused Hamas of previously “dictating, not negotiating” but said this has changed in the last few weeks.
“Yahya Sinwar was the main obstacle for a deal,” they added.
Sinwar, believed to be the mastermind of the 7 October attacks, led Hamas following the assassination of his predecessor but was himself killed in October last year.
Under Sinwar, the Israeli official claimed, Hamas was “not in a rush” to bring a hostage deal but this has changed since his death and since the IDF “started to dismantle the Shia axis”.
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Biden: ‘Never, never, never, ever give up’
Iran ‘weaker than it’s been in decades’
Yesterday, President Biden also hailed Washington’s support for Israel during two Iranian attacks in 2024.
“All told, Iran is weaker than it’s been in decades,” the president said.
Mr Biden claimed America’s adversaries were weaker than when he took office four years ago and that the US was “winning the worldwide competition”.
“Compared to four years ago, America is stronger, our alliances are stronger, our adversaries and competitors are
weaker,” he said.
“We have not gone to war to make these things happen.”
The US president is expected to give a farewell address on Wednesday.
A draft ceasefire deal on the table between Israel and Hamas would see 33 hostages set free and a phased withdrawal of IDF forces from parts of Gaza.
President Joe Biden said an agreement to stop the fighting was “on the brink” and high level negotiations between the two sides resumed in Qatar on Tuesday.
The deal would see a number of things happen in a first stage, with negotiations for the second stage beginning in the third week of the ceasefire.
It would also allow a surge in humanitarian aid into Gaza, which has been devastated by more than a year of war.
Details of what the draft proposal entails have been emerging on Tuesday, reported by Israeli and Palestinian officials.
Relatives and supporters of Israeli hostages hold photos of their loved ones during a protest on 8 January. Pic: AP
Hostages to be returned
In the first stage of the potential ceasefire, 33 hostages would be set free.
These include women (including female soldiers), children, men over the age of 50, wounded and sick.
Israel believes most of these hostages are alive but there has not been any official confirmation from Hamas.
In return for the release of the hostages, Israel would free more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners and detainees.
People serving long sentences for deadly attacks would be included in this but Hamas fighters who took part in the 7 October attack would not be released.
An arrangement to prevent Palestinian “terrorists” from going back to the West Bank would be included in the deal, an anonymous Israeli official said.
Read more:
A timeline of events since the 7 October attacks
The hostages who still haven’t returned home
Smoke billows as buildings lie in ruin in Beit Hanoun in Gaza. Pic: Reuters
Phased Israeli withdrawal from Gaza
The agreement also includes a phased withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza, with IDF troops remaining in the border perimeter to defend Israeli border towns and villages.
Security arrangements would be implemented at the Philadelphi corridor – a narrow strip of land that runs along the border between Egypt and Gaza – with Israel withdrawing from parts of it after the first few days of the deal.
The Rafah Crossing between Egypt and Gaza would start to work gradually to allow the crossing of people who are sick and other humanitarian cases out of Gaza for treatment.
Unarmed North Gaza residents would be allowed to return to their homes, with a mechanism introduced to ensure no weapons are moved there.
“We will not leave the Gaza Strip until all our hostages are back home,” the Israeli official said.
What will happen to Gaza in the future?
There is less detail about the future of Gaza – from how it will be governed, to any guarantees that this agreement will bring a permanent end to the war.
“The only thing that can answer for now is that we are ready for a ceasefire,” the Israeli official said.
“This is a long ceasefire and the deal that is being discussed right now is for a long one. There is a big price for releasing the hostages and we are ready to pay this price.”
The international community has said Gaza must be run by Palestinians, but there has not been a consensus about how this should be done – and the draft ceasefire agreement does not seem to address this either.
In the past, Israel has said it will not end the war leaving Hamas in power. It also previously rejected the possibility of the Palestinian Authority, which exercises limited governing powers in the West Bank, from taking over the administration of Gaza.
Since the beginning of its military campaign in Gaza, Israel has also said it would retain security control over the territory after the fighting ends.
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