Current:Home > NewsA day after Britain’s prime minister fired her, Suella Braverman accuses him of being a weak leader -Clarity Finance Guides
A day after Britain’s prime minister fired her, Suella Braverman accuses him of being a weak leader
View
Date:2025-04-15 00:51:56
LONDON (AP) — Former British Home Secretary Suella Braverman lashed out at Prime Minister Rishi Sunak a day after he fired her, calling his approach “uncertain, weak” and a betrayal of his promises.
In a resignation letter she published on Tuesday, Braverman said Sunak had “manifestly and repeatedly failed to deliver” on key pledges and alleged that he “never had any intention” of keeping them.
Sunak sacked Braverman on Monday after she made a series of intemperate statements that deviated from the government line. In recent weeks she called homelessness a “lifestyle choice” and accused police of being too lenient with pro-Palestinian protests, which she called “hate marches.”
On Saturday, far-right protesters scuffled with police and tried to confront a pro-Palestinian march by hundreds of thousands through the streets of London. Critics accused Braverman’s language of helping to inflame tensions.
In her letter, she said Sunak had rejected her calls to ban pro-Palestinian demonstrations calling for a cease-fire in Gaza.
“Britain is at a turning point in our history and faces a threat of radicalization and extremism in a way not seen for 20 years. I regret to say that your response has been uncertain, weak and lacking in the qualities of leadership that this country needs,” she wrote.
As home secretary, Braverman championed the government’s stalled plan to send asylum-seekers who arrive in Britain in boats on a one-way trip to Rwanda. A U.K. Supreme Court ruling on whether the policy is legal is due on Wednesday.
Braverman has called for the U.K. to leave the European Convention on Human Rights if the Rwanda plan is blocked, a move Sunak has not supported.
She accused Sunak of having no “Plan B” if the government loses the Supreme Court case. She said his reluctance to remove Britain from international rights agreements was “a betrayal of your promise to the nation that you would do ‘whatever it takes’ to stop the boats.”
Sunak’s office said the prime minister would “continue to tackle illegal migration ... whatever the outcome of the Supreme Court case.”
“The prime minister was proud to appoint a strong, united team yesterday focused on delivering for the British people,” his Downing Street office said in a statement.
Her fusillade of scorn is part of Braverman’s bid to cement her place as leader of the Conservative Party’s authoritarian right wing. She’s seen as likely to run for party leader in a contest that could come if the Conservatives lose power in an election due next year.
Opinion polls put the party as much as 20 points behind the Labour opposition.
Although Braverman is a rallying figure for some Conservatives, she has the support of a minority of the party’s lawmakers. More centrist Tories see her as reviving the authoritarian and intolerant “nasty party” image that the Conservatives have long worked to shed, starting with the government of Prime Minister David Cameron between 2010 and 2016.
Cameron, widely regarded as politically moderate and socially liberal, returned to government Monday in the Cabinet shuffle that ousted Braverman. Sunak appointed him foreign secretary, making Cameron the first ex-prime minister for half a century to hold another Cabinet post.
veryGood! (5)
Related
- Romantasy reigns on spicy BookTok: Recommendations from the internet’s favorite genre
- Tearful Derek Hough Reflects on the Shock of Len Goodman’s Death
- Get $135 Worth of Tarte Cosmetics Products for Just $59 Before This Deal Sells Out
- Investors Worried About Climate Change Run Into New SEC Roadblocks
- What to know about Tuesday’s US House primaries to replace Matt Gaetz and Mike Waltz
- You'll Flip a Table Over These Real Housewives of New Jersey Season 13 Reunion Looks
- Luxurious Mother’s Day Gift Ideas for the Glam Mom
- How to Sell Green Energy
- 'Vanderpump Rules' star DJ James Kennedy arrested on domestic violence charges
- There's a bit of good news about monkeypox. Is it because of the vaccine?
Ranking
- See you latte: Starbucks plans to cut 30% of its menu
- The new U.S. monkeypox vaccine strategy offers more doses — and uncertainty
- Seeing God’s Hand in the Deadly Floods, Yet Wondering about Climate Change
- Taro Takahashi
- 'Kraven the Hunter' spoilers! Let's dig into that twisty ending, supervillain reveal
- Odd crime scene leads to conflicting theories about the shooting deaths of Pam and Helen Hargan
- Odd crime scene leads to conflicting theories about the shooting deaths of Pam and Helen Hargan
- Nurses in Puerto Rico See First-Hand Health Crisis from Climate Disasters
Recommendation
McConnell absent from Senate on Thursday as he recovers from fall in Capitol
El Niño’s Warning: Satellite Shows How Forest CO2 Emissions Can Skyrocket
Pfizer asks FDA to greenlight new omicron booster shots, which could arrive this fall
Olivia Culpo Shares Why She's Having a Hard Time Nailing Down Her Wedding Dress Design
Paula Abdul settles lawsuit with former 'So You Think You Can Dance' co
Too Cozy with Coal? Group Charges Feds Are Rubber-Stamping Mine Approvals
Luxurious Mother’s Day Gift Ideas for the Glam Mom
‘People Are Dying’: Puerto Rico Faces Daunting Humanitarian Crisis