Shortly after, former prime minister David Cameron was appointed foreign secretary – and handed a “barony” so he can serve in government again.
A former prime minister returning to government in this way is highly unusual.
In a statement released after her sacking, Ms Braverman said: “It has been the greatest privilege of my life to serve as home secretary. I will have more to say in due course.”
Mr Cleverly later said: “It’s been a huge privilege to serve as foreign secretary. And in that time, I’ve worked very closely with my colleagues in the Home Office cracking down on illegal migration, reducing the number of small boat arrivals.
“And now, as the home secretary, I’m absolutely committed to stopping the boats, as we promised, but also making sure that everybody in the UK feels safe and secure, going around, going about their daily business, knowing that the government is here to protect them. So it’s a fantastic job and it’s a real privilege to serve.”
Asked if he would distance himself from the words used by his predecessor, he added: “Well, I intend to do this job in the way that I feel best protects the British people and our interests.
“I have had a very good conversation with the prime minister, who’s made it very clear that [he] wants us to deliver on our promises to stop the boats, to the British people, make sure everybody feels secure in their lives. Thank you very much.
Image: Former British Prime Minister David Cameron walks outside 10 Downing Street
Today marks the second time Ms Braverman has lost the job of home secretary – after she resigned from Liz Truss’s government breaking the ministerial code. Mr Sunak reappointed her less than a week later when he took over as prime minister.
Last week, Ms Braverman wrote a newspaper article that accused the police of “playing favourites”as she criticised the Metropolitan Police’s handling of a controversial pro-Palestinian march for Armistice Day.
The prime minister came under pressure to act after Ms Braverman was accused of undermining the operational independence of – and public confidence in – the police.
Critics, from both opposition parties and fellow Tory MPs, called Ms Braverman’s comments “offensive” and “inflammatory”.
Over the weekend, far-right protesters clashed with police in Westminster. Elsewhere, pro-Palestinian marches also ended with arrests.
Speaking to Sky News this morning, armed forces minister James Heappey became the latest member of the government to distance themselves from Ms Braverman’s words – joining Defence Secretary Grant Shapps and Chancellor Jeremy Hunt.
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In a post on the Conservative Party’s social media, it claims Mr Sunak’s reshuffle today “strengthens his team in government to deliver long-term decisions for a brighter future”.
But the move to sack Ms Braverman will anger some in the party. Tory MP Andrea Jenkyns said on X: “I support Suella Braverman. Sacked for speaking the truth. Bad call by Rishi caving in to the left!”
On the other side of the debate, some MPs welcomed the change in direction. Former health secretary Matt Hancock said: “Excellent for the Conservatives, showing Rishi Sunak will fight the election on the centre ground.”
As well as Ms Braverman being sacked, a number of junior ministers also left government.
Nick Gibb, who has been a minister in the Deparment for Education for much of the past decade, announced he was standing down.
Neil O’Brien said he had asked to return to the backbenches from his role as a junior minister in the Department for Health and Social Care.
Will Quince also announced that he would step down as a junior minister in DHSC, and Jesse Norman said he would be standing down as a DfT minister.
Yvette Cooper, Labour’s shadow home secretary, said: “Suella Braverman has now been sacked twice as home secretary.
“Rishi Sunak [should] never have re-appointed her in first place. He was warned against it & was warned on the damage she was doing.
“He went along with her undermining the police. Buck still stops with this weak PM.”
Sir Keir Starmer’s plan to recognise Palestine as a state has been attacked as “appeasement towards jihadist terrorists” by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The prime minister said the UK will recognise a Palestinian state by September unless Israel takes “substantive steps” to end the situation in Gaza, Israel agrees to a ceasefire, commits to a long-term sustainable peace, allows the UN to restart aid supplies and does not annexe the West Bank.
About 250 MPs from all parties – half of them Labour – had signed a letter last week calling for Sir Keir to immediately recognise a Palestinian state.
Sir Keir said that by giving Israel a deadline of 9 September UN meeting, he hoped this would play a part “in changing the conditions on the ground, and making sure aid gets into making sure that there is hope of a two-state solution for the future”.
But Mr Netanyahu condemned the plan, saying Sir Keir “rewards Hamas’s monstrous terrorism and punishes its victims”.
“A jihadist state on Israel’s border today will threaten Britain tomorrow,” he wrote on X.
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“Appeasement towards jihadist terrorists always fails. It will fail you too. It will not happen.”
The Israelis also accused Sir Keir of pandering to his MPs and France, after Emmanuel Macron committed to recognising a Palestinian state last week, and harming efforts to release Israeli hostages.
Image: Benjamin Netanyahu was effusive in his condemnation
Lib Dems and Greens: ‘Bargaining chip’
Sir Keir also faced accusations of using Palestinian state recognition as a “bargaining chip” by both the Lib Dems and the Green Party.
Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davey said a Palestinian state should have been recognised “months ago” and “far greater action” is needed to stop the humanitarian disaster in Gaza.
Image: Jordanian military personnel prepare planes to deliver airdrops in Gaza on Monday
Green Party foreign affairs spokesperson Ellie Chowns, who wants immediate state recognition, said it was a “cynical political gesture”.
Humza Yousaf, Scotland’s former SNP first minister, who revealed a family member was killed in Gaza days ago, told Sky News statehood “shouldn’t be dependent” upon the conditions Sir Keir has set for Israel, but is the “inalienable right” of the Palestinian people.
The British Palestinian Committee, representing Palestinian interests in the UK, described conditions as “absurd and performative”.
UK Jewish groups seek clarity
The Board of Deputies of British Jews, the UK’s largest Jewish organisation, said it was “seeking urgent clarification” that the UK will not recognise Palestine as a state if Israeli hostages remain in Hamas captivity, or if Hamas keeps rejecting a ceasefire deal.
The Labour Friends of Israel group said it has “shared goals” with the government but state recognition “will be a merely symbolic act unless the UK uses its influence to establish the principles of a meaningful pathway to a Palestinian state”.
Sarah Champion, Labour MP and chair of the international development committee, who started the MP letter calling for state recognition, said she was “delighted and relieved”.
However, she added: “I’m troubled our recognition appears conditional on Israel’s actions.”
When Foreign Secretary David Lammy announced the plan at a UN meeting, he received applause.
Not many other Labour MPs commented.
Tories accuse Starmer of appeasing MPs
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch accused Sir Keir of being more focused on a “political problem for the Labour Party” than other issues facing the UK.
“Recognising a Palestinian state won’t bring the hostages home, won’t end the war and won’t get aid into Gaza,” she posted on X.
“This is political posturing at its very worst.”
Tory shadow foreign secretary Priti Patel said the announcement was “to appease his backbenchers” as “he knows that promises to recognise Palestine will not secure lasting peace”.
Image: Aid trucks were allowed into Gaza on Tuesday. Pic: Reuters
Trump did not discuss statehood with Starmer
Donald Trump said he and Sir Keir “never did discuss” the PM’s plan to recognise a Palestinian state during their meetings in Scotland the day before.
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Trump responds to Sky question on Israel
However, Tammy Bruce, spokeswoman for the US state department, said Sir Keir’s plan is a “slap in the face for the victims of October 7”, which “rewards Hamas”, the Telegraph reported.
At St Marie’s Catholic Church in Southport, small photos of Bebe King, Elsie Dot Stancombe and Alice da Silva Aguiar stood on the altar. Candles burned next to them.
During lunchtime mass, Father John Heneghan, who gave Alice her first communion and then conducted her funeral, spoke quietly of the “three little angels” lost a year ago.
Image: (L-R) Elsie Dot Stancombe, Alice da Silva Aguiar and Bebe King.
Pic: Merseyside Police
A town and a community, in small and quiet ways, remembered a horror that still haunts them.
St Marie’s was one of the locations chosen for the people of Southport to come and reflect, pray or light a candle in memory of the awful events of 29 July last year.
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Southport survivor ‘thought she was going to die’
Throughout the day, a handful of people have paused for a moment at community centres, libraries and churches.
The town had opted for very little outward show of commemoration.
After discussions, including with the families of the victims, they asked for people to instead donate to local causes, including the charities set up by those families themselves – Elsie’s Story, Bebe’s Hive and Alice’s WonderDance.
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They requested no flowers at the scene of the attack or the schools the girls attended.
“Let us continue to honour the lives of Alice, Bebe and Elsie,” the leader and chair of Sefton Council said in a letter to the community, “not only through remembrance but by holding onto the values they embodied – joy, creativity, kindness, and love.”
Image: Flowers left at Town Hall Gardens in Southport, near where three children were fatally stabbed a year ago. Pic: PA
At 3pm, people stopped to observe the three-minute silence in the town centre.
A few wiped away tears before spontaneous applause broke out.
In Southport’s Town Hall Gardens, which was the focal point of the public mourning a year ago, people again came to place flowers, toys and cards in memory of the victims.
Stones bearing messages of support to the families were also placed there.
“God bless to you three little angels,” read one card.
Resident doctors are not ruling out further strike action as their current walkout comes to an end, with some demands still unmet.
The latest strike began on Friday amid an ongoing row over pay and is expected to last until 7am on Wednesday.
Hospital leaders have urged the British Medical Association (BMA) and the government to end the strikes, which caused widespread disruptions throughout the NHS in England.
The BMA’s Resident Doctors Committee (RDC) says it is ready for further talks with the government but has yet to be contacted by Health Secretary Wes Streeting.
Dozens of resident doctors, previously called junior doctors, took part in a picket line on Tuesday at King George Hospital in Ilford, a facility serving the constituents of the health secretary.
Image: Health Secretary Wes Streeting visits the NHS National Operations Centre in London to see the response to the industrial action. Pic: Jordan Pettitt/PA Wire
“Unfortunately, we haven’t heard from him yet. That doesn’t mean that he’s not going to call us tomorrow – our door is always open,” said Dr Melissa Ryan, who co-chairs the committee alongside Dr Ross Nieuwoudt.
Dr Nieuwoudt said: “There does not need to be a single other day of industrial action at all.
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“All Wes Streeting needs to do is come to us now and talk to us now, because that’s what doctors want and that’s what patients need.”
The union has also launched a related dispute with the government over limited training spots, as this year, over 30,000 resident doctors competed for only 10,000 specialty places.
A recent poll of 4,400 doctors found that 52% finishing their second training year lack confirmed employment for August.
Dr Layla McCay, director of policy at NHS Confederation, said: “Resident doctors have recently had a very substantial increase in their pay and the government has been pretty clear that at the moment, there isn’t more money to be negotiated.”
Dr McCay said the government “is keen” to discuss non-pay issues, such as workforce conditions.
Image: NHS resident doctors outside St Thomas’ Hospital. Pic: PA.
“I think that the hope of all healthcare leaders is that the BMA will get around the table with the government and figure out a solution to this, because what absolutely nobody wants to see is any further cases of industrial action after this one.”
Streeting has said the union can’t “hold the country to ransom” following a 28.9% pay increase over the past three years, the highest in the public sector.
The BMA has said pay for resident doctors has declined by a fifth since 2008, once inflation is taken into account, despite this uplift.
Meanwhile, health workers represented by the GMB and Unite unions have also turned down a government offer, raising the likelihood of additional industrial action within the NHS.
Nurses are also expected to turn down the pay deal later this week.
The Royal College of Nursing, which represents hundreds of thousands of nurses across the NHS in England, is balloting its members on the 3.6% pay award offered for 2025/26 in England.
A recent YouGov poll found that public opinion in Britain is divided over nurses striking for better pay. Among 4,300 adults surveyed, 19% “strongly support” nurse strikes, while 28% offer some support. In contrast, 23% “strongly oppose” the strikes, and 20% “somewhat oppose” them.