Grant Shapps replaces Suella Braverman as home secretary

Published

3 years ago

October 19, 2022

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Grant Shapps has been appointed as the new home secretary, replacing Suella Braverman after her shock resignation.

The former transport secretary, who backed Rishi Sunak in the Tory leadership race and has been critical of some of PM Liz Truss’ policies, has been confirmed by Downing Street as now heading the Home Office.

Speaking outside No 10 after his appointment, he admitted it has been “a turbulent time” for the administration, but “the most important thing is to make sure that people of this country know that they have got security”.

Politics live: Braverman voices ‘concerns’ in explosive resignation letter

He added: “That’s why it is is a great honour to be appointed as Home Secretary today

“I am looking forward to getting on with the job.”

Mr Shapps would not be drawn in on specifics around immigration, saying he will “refrain from commenting” after “10 minutes in the job”.

And he was not tempted into continuing his criticism of the prime minister, saying Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has “done a great job settling issues relating to the mini-budget”.

Mr Shapps had spent the Conservative Party conference earlier this month warning that Tory MPs would not “sit on their hands” in ousting Ms Truss without improvement.

Sky’s deputy political editor Sam Coates said his appointment as home secretary was perhaps “unsurprising” as he has “caused havoc” since being removed from the cabinet by Ms Truss.

Coates said Mr Shapps did not take his sacking “lying down” and helped coordinate the rebellion over the 45p tax rate – “the beginning of the end for that mini-budget”.

And it would be “a very good reason” to bring him back into the fold – “to remove the thorn from her side”.

Ms Braverman was only appointed to the role 43 days ago by the new prime minister.

Ms Braverman resigned after sending an official document from her personal email in a breach of the security rules for government.

In an explosive resignation letter which also voiced “concerns” about the direction of the government, the now former home secretary said: “Pretending we haven’t made mistakes, carrying on as if everyone can’t see that we have made them, and hoping that things will magically come right is not serious politics.”

She added: “I have made a mistake, I accept responsibility, I resign.”

She also expressed “concerns” that the government had already “broken key pledges that were promised to our voters”, and said she is worried about “the government’s commitment” to other manifesto policies, including reducing overall migration numbers.

Tory former minister says ‘enough is enough’

Ms Braverman’s shock departure comes as Ms Truss fights for her political survival following the sacking of chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng last Friday and the axing of the majority of the government’s mini-budget on Monday by new chancellor Jeremy Hunt.

Conservative former minister George Freeman has vented his frustration on Twitter amid the ongoing turmoil in his party.

He said: “The home secretary ‘resigns’ attacking the PM and government program she had supported?

“The chancellor ‘resigns’ for implementing the policies he and PM and cabinet had agreed?

“Enough is enough. The cabinet need to get a grip, fast, to restore collective responsibility and confidence.”

Opposition parties have also attacked the prime minister.

Government ‘falling apart at the seams’

Labour’s shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper said the government “can’t even manage the basics” in the wake of the resignation of her opposite number.

She said the Tory administration was “falling apart at the seams”, adding: “To appoint and then [lose] both your home secretary and chancellor within six weeks is utter chaos. This is no way to run a government.”

The Liberal Democrats described Ms Braverman’s exit as the latest in a “carousel of Conservative chaos”.

“People should not be forced to watch the Conservative party implode day after day while real people suffer,” Lib Dem home affairs spokesperson Alistair Carmichael said.

“There is a cost of living catastrophe, health service crisis and now a rudderless Home Office.

“The only solution now is a general election so the public can get off this carousel of Conservative chaos.”

World

‘At least 798 killed’ at Gaza aid points – as medical charity warns acute malnutrition at all-time high

Published

10 hours ago

July 11, 2025

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'At least 798 killed' at Gaza aid points - as medical charity warns acute malnutrition at all-time high

At least 798 people in Gaza have reportedly been killed while receiving aid in the past six weeks – while acute malnutrition is said to have reached an all-time high.

The UN human rights office said 615 of the deaths – between 27 May and 7 July – were “in the vicinity” of sites run by the controversial US and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).

A further 183 people killed were “presumably on the route of aid convoys,” said Ravina Shamdasani, from the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.

Its figures are based on a range of sources, including hospitals, cemeteries, and families in the Gaza Strip, as well as non-governmental organisations (NGOs), its partners on the ground, and Hamas-run health authorities.

Aid agency Project Hope said on Thursday that 10 children were among at least 15 people killed as they waited for its clinic in Deir al Balah to open.

The GHF has claimed the UN figures are “false and misleading” and has repeatedly denied any violence at or around its sites.

Meanwhile, Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) – also known as Doctors Without Borders – said two of its sites were seeing their worst-ever levels of severe malnutrition.

Cases at its Gaza City clinic are said to have tripled from 293 in May to 983 in early July.

“Over 700 pregnant or breastfeeding women and nearly 500 children are now receiving emergency nutritional care,” MSF said.

The humanitarian medical charity said food prices were at extreme levels, with sugar at $766 (£567) per kilo and flour $30 (£22) per kilo, and many families surviving on one meal of rice or lentils a day.

It’s a major concern for the estimated 55,000 pregnant women in Gaza, who risk miscarriage, stillbirth and malnourished infants because of the shortages.

The GHF began distributing food packages in Gaza at the end of May, after Israel eased its 11-week blockade of aid into the coastal territory.

It has four distribution centres, three of which are in the southern Gaza Strip.

The sites, kept off-limits to independent media, are guarded by private security contractors and located in zones where the Israeli military operates.

Palestinian witnesses say Israeli forces have repeatedly opened fire towards crowds of people going to receive aid.

The Israeli military says it has fired warning shots at people who have behaved in what it says is a suspicious manner.

It says its forces operate near the aid sites to stop supplies from falling into the hands of militants.

After the deaths of hundreds of Palestinians trying to reach the aid hubs, the United Nations has called the GHF’s aid model “inherently unsafe” and a violation of humanitarian impartiality standards.

In response, a GHF spokesperson said: “The fact is the most deadly attacks on aid sites have been linked to UN convoys.”

The GHF says it has delivered more than 70 million meals to Gazans in five weeks and claims other humanitarian groups had “nearly all of their aid looted” by Hamas or criminal gangs.

World

At least 798 people have been killed at Gaza aid points, the UN says

Published

18 hours ago

July 11, 2025

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At least 798 people in Gaza have been killed while receiving aid in six weeks, the UN human rights office has said.

A spokesperson for the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights said 615 of the killings were “in the vicinity” of sites run by the controversial US and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).

A further 183 people killed were “presumably on the route of aid convoys,” Ravina Shamdasani told reporters in Geneva.

The office said its figures are based on numbers from a range of sources, including hospitals, cemeteries and families in the Gaza Strip, as well as NGOs, its partners on the ground and the Hamas-run health authorities.

The GHF has claimed the figures are “false and misleading”. It has repeatedly denied there has been any violence at or around its sites.

The organisation began distributing food packages in Gaza at the end of May, after Israel eased its 11-week blockade of aid into the enclave.

It has four distribution centres, three of which are in the southern Gaza Strip. The sites, kept off-limits to independent media, are guarded by private security contractors and located in zones where the Israeli military operates.

Palestinian witnesses say Israeli forces have repeatedly opened fire towards crowds of people going to receive aid.

The Israeli military says it has fired warning shots at people who have behaved in what they say is a suspicious manner.

It says its forces operate near the aid sites to stop supplies falling into the hands of militants.

In response, a GHF spokesperson told the Reuters news agency: “The fact is the most deadly attacks on aid sites have been linked to UN convoys.”

The GHF says it has delivered more than 70 million meals to Gazans in five weeks and claims other humanitarian groups had “nearly all of their aid looted” by Hamas or criminal gangs.

World

Ten children among at least 15 killed waiting for Gaza health clinic to open, says aid group

Published

22 hours ago

July 11, 2025

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Ten children among at least 15 killed waiting for Gaza health clinic to open, says aid group

Ten children and two women are among at least 15 killed in an airstrike near a Gaza health clinic, according to an aid organisation.

Project Hope said it happened this morning near Altayara Junction, in Deir al Balah, as patients waited for the clinic to open.

The organisation’s president called it a “blatant violation of international humanitarian law, and a stark reminder that no one and no place is safe in Gaza“.

“No child waiting for food and medicine should face the risk of being bombed,” added the group’s project manager, Dr Mithqal Abutaha.

“It was a horrific scene. People had to come seeking health and support, instead they faced death.”

Operations at the clinic – which provides a range of health and maternity services – have been suspended.

Some of the children were reportedly waiting to receive nutritional supplements, necessary due to the dire shortage of food being allowed into Gaza.

Israel‘s military is investigating and said it was targeting a militant who took part in the 7 October terror attack.

“The IDF [Israel Defence Force] regrets any harm to uninvolved individuals and operates to minimize harm as much as possible,” added.

The deaths come as an agreement over a 60-day truce hangs in the balance – with President Trump cautiously saying it could happen “this week, or next week”.

Elsewhere in Gaza, the Nasser Hospital reported another 21 deaths in airstrikes in Khan Younis and in the nearby coastal area of Muwasi.

It said three children and their mother were among the dead.

Israel said its troops have been dismantling more than 130 Hamas infrastructure sites in Khan Younis over the past week, including missile launch sites, weapons storage facilities and a 500m tunnel.

On Wednesday, a soldier was shot dead when militants burst out of a tunnel and tried to abduct him, the military added.

Eighteen soldiers have been killed in the past three weeks – one of the deadliest periods for the Israeli army in months.

A 22-year-old Israeli man was also killed on Thursday by two attackers in a supermarket in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, said the Magen David Adom emergency service.

People on site reportedly shot and killed the attackers but information on their identity has so far not been released.

Negotiations over a proposed 60-day ceasefire are ongoing and President Trump reportedly put “heavy” pressure on Israel’s leader, who visited the US this week.

A major sticking point is said to be the status of the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) inside Gaza during the 60-day ceasefire and beyond, should it last longer.

However, Sky News understands the Israeli government thinks the chances of a permanent truce are “questionable”.

More than 57,000 Palestinians have been killed in the war – more than half are women and children, according to Gaza’s Hamas-controlled health ministry.

Its figure does not differentiate between civilians and fighters.

The war began in October 2023 after Hamas killed around 1,200 people in Israel and kidnapped 251 others.

Some of them remain In Gaza and are a crucial part of ceasefire negotiations, which also include a planned surge in humanitarian aid into the strip.