Rishi Sunak fires ‘controversial secretary’ Suella Braverman

Chancellor Rishi Sunak has removed the controversial Home Secretary, Suella Braverman, from her position after she openly defied the authority of Prime Minister Boris Johnson last week.

A Downing Street official confirmed that Sunak had asked Braverman to step down, and she willingly accepted the decision as part of a broader reshuffle scheduled for Monday.

The dismissal follows a series of contentious remarks by Braverman that drew widespread criticism. Notably, her comments characterizing rough sleeping as a “lifestyle choice” and her critique of the Metropolitan Police’s handling of pro-Palestinian protests contributed to her departure from the government.

Braverman, in her statements, repeatedly referred to pro-Palestine marches in London as “hate marches,” a characterization that sparked controversy.

Her letter to The Times, where she likened the protests to scenes in Northern Ireland, was widely condemned as both incendiary and factually inaccurate.

Last week, Braverman’s future became uncertain when she openly defied Number 10’s instructions to tone down an article comparing the pro-Palestinian Armistice Day rally to sectarian marches in Northern Ireland.

In the same piece, she seemed to question the operational independence of the Metropolitan Police, suggesting disparate treatment of lockdown objectors and Black Lives Matter demonstrators during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Rishi Sunak also expressed discomfort with Braverman’s social media comments, particularly on the platform X (formerly Twitter), where she remarked that homeless individuals living in tents had made a “lifestyle choice.”

This perspective on homelessness raised eyebrows and contributed to Sunak’s decision to remove her from office.

It’s noteworthy that this dismissal marks the second time Braverman has exited the role of Home Secretary in just over a year.

In a previous incident, she resigned from the same position following a technical security breach, where she used her personal email to transmit government business-related information, as required by then-Prime Minister Liz Truss.