Rishi Sunak has ‘full confidence’ in Suella Braverman after controversial Times article, Number 10 says

Published

11 months ago

November 9, 2023

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Rishi Sunak has “full confidence” in his home secretary, Suella Braverman, despite her controversial article about pro-Palestinian marches.

Number 10 said it would “update further” after looking into the “details” surrounding the home secretary’s article in The Time, but insisted Mr Sunak still had “full confidence” in her.

In her piece for the newspaper, Ms Braverman accused the police of “playing favourites” with how it handles controversial protests by showing a more lenient attitude to left-wing protesters than their right-wing counterparts.

She also ramped up her attacks on those attending pro-Palestinian demonstrations, likening them to those in Northern Ireland – comments that were branded “wholly offensive” and “ignorant” by one former Tory cabinet minister.

Mr Sunak is under pressure to sack Ms Braverman over her remarks, which critics believe were aimed at undermining the operational independence of and public confidence in the police.

Politics latest: Tory MP claims Braverman ‘on mission to get herself sacked’

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer labelled her “divisive” and accused her of “stoking up tension” but claimed the prime minister was “too weak to say anything about it”.

Sir Keir said the home secretary is “undermining the police as they go into a very difficult set of operational decisions”.

He added: “She is doing the complete opposite of what I think most people in this country would see as the proper role of the home secretary.”

Downing Street has now admitted it did not clear Ms Braverman’s article for publication.

It is understood the article was sent to Number 10 for approval. When Downing Street suggested changes to the home secretary, they were not made before the piece was published.

“The content was not agreed by Number 10,” a spokesman for the prime minister confirmed to reporters.

He also would not say whether Mr Sunak agreed with the language used by his home secretary.

“The prime minister continues to believe that the police will operate without fear or favour,” they added.

In The Times op-ed, the home secretary once again described pro-Palestinian protesters as “hate marchers” and added: “I do not believe that these marches are merely a cry for help for Gaza.

“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.”

In a rebuke to the Metropolitan Police, which is allowing a pro-Palestinian march to go ahead on Armistice Day, Ms Braverman also wrote: “Unfortunately, there is a perception that senior police officers play favourites 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?”

Meanwhile, one former Tory cabinet minister told Sky’s political editor Beth Rigby that Ms Braverman’s comments were “wholly offensive and ignorant of where people in Northern Ireland stand on the issues of Israel and Gaza”.

“It would be good to know what she knows about what Northern Ireland people think about the current Israel-Palestine situation before she casts aspersions,” they said.

In response, the Met Police said they would “not be commenting at this time”.

Earlier this week its commissioner, Sir Mark Rowley, confirmed that the demonstration on Saturday would go ahead because the “legal threshold” to stop it on security grounds “had not been met”.

Labour was joined by the Liberal Democrats in calling on Mr Sunak to sack Ms Braverman, with party leader Sir Ed Davey accusing Ms Braverman of “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,” he said.

Politics

Lisa Nandy says Sir Keir Starmer ‘very sensible’ to accept football tickets worth thousands

Published

15 hours ago

September 21, 2024

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Lisa Nandy says Sir Keir Starmer 'very sensible' to accept football tickets worth thousands

Lisa Nandy has said Sir Keir Starmer’s decision to accept thousands of pounds worth of football tickets was “very sensible”.

The minister for culture, media and sport also said she had never accepted free clothes from a donor.

Speaking to Sky News at the start of the Labour Party conference today, the MP for Wigan said: “The problem that has arisen since [Sir Keir] became leader of the opposition and then prime minister is that for him to sit in the stands would require a huge security detail, would be disruptive for other people and it would cost the taxpayer a lot of money.

“So I think he’s taken a very sensible decision that’s not the right and appropriate thing to do, and it’s right to accept that he has to go and sit in a different area.

“But I know that he’d much rather be sitting in the stands cheering people on with the usual crowd that he’s been going to the football with for years.”

Ms Nandy also said while she has not accepted free clothes – joking “I think you can probably see that I choose my own clothes sadly” – she doesn’t “make any judgements about what other members of parliament do”.

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She said: “The only judgement I would make is if they’re breaking the rules, so they’re trying to hide what they’re doing. That’s when problems arise.

“Because the point of being open and transparent is that people can see where the relationships are, and they can then judge for themselves whether there’s been any undue influence.”

She asserted there had not been an undue influence in gifts accepted by senior Labour figures, adding: “We don’t want the news and the commentary to be dominated by conversations about clothes.

“We rightly have a system, I think, where the taxpayer doesn’t fund these things. We don’t claim on expenses for them. And so MPs will always take donations, will always take gifts in kind.

“MPs of all political parties have historically done that and that is the system that we have.”

She added: “I don’t think there’s any suggestion here that Keir Starmer has broken any rules. I don’t think there’s any suggestion that he’s done anything wrong.

“We expect our politicians to be well turned out, we expect them to be people who go out and represent us at different events and represent the country at different events and are clothed appropriately.

“But the point is that when we accept donations for that or for anything else, that we declare them and we’re open and transparent about them.”

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Sir Keir, Angela Rayner and Rachel Reeves said yesterday they will no longer accept donations in the future to pay for clothes.

The announcement followed criticism of Sir Keir’s gifts from donors, which included clothing worth £16,200 and multiple pairs of glasses worth £2,485, according to the MPs’ register of interests.

The register shows Ms Rayner has accepted clothing donations to the value of £2,230.

Sky News also revealed the scale of Sir Keir’s donations this week as part of our Westminster Accounts investigation.

Sir Keir was found to have received substantially more gifts and freebies than any other MP – his total in gifts, benefits, and hospitality topped £100,000 since December 2019.