Sacked Suella Braverman accuses Rishi Sunak of needing ‘comfort blanket’ in an explosive missive

Sacked Home Secretary Suella Braverman has accused the British Prime Minister of being so weak that he uses wishful thinking as a ‘comfort blanket’ to avoid making hard choices in an explosive resignation letter.

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and sacked home secretary Suella Braverman in April 2023. Picture: Getty Images

Sacked Home Secretary Suella Braverman has delivered a withering take-down of Rishi Sunak, accusing the British Prime Minister of being so weak that he uses wishful thinking as a “comfort blanket” to avoid making hard choices.

Ms Braverman has accused Mr Sunak of betraying the British public and failing to uphold four key of promises he made to her when she backed him – and brought along a swath of supporters – so that he could be Prime Minister in a leadership ballot last year.

She said she had worked up legal advice, policy detail and action to take on those issues – the significant one being to stop the flood of small boats crossing the Channel with illegal migrants – but was “often met with equivocation, disregard and a lack of interest” by Mr Sunak’s team.

She added: “You have manifestly and repeatedly failed to deliver on every single one of these key policies. Either your distinctive style of government means you are incapable of doing so. Or, as I must surely conclude now, you never had any intention of keeping your promises.”

Ms Braverman was sacked from her high profile and senior position after claiming the Metropolitan Police had applied double standards to pro-Palestinian protesters in allowing “hate marches” across Britain.

In her statement she said Sunak had failed “to rise to the challenge posed by the increasingly vicious antisemitism and extremism displayed on our streets”.

“I have become hoarse urging you to consider legislation to ban the hate marches and help stem the rising tide of racism, intimidation and terrorist glorification threatening community cohesion,” she wrote, accusing Mr Sunak of instead trying to minimise his political risk.

“Britain is at a turning point in our history and faces a threat of radicalisation 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.”

The four key points in her deal with the Prime Minister related to some of the most explosive and voter-sensitive issues facing Britain.

She said the deal with Mr Sunak, worked out over a dinner, was to reduce overall legal migration as set out in the 2019 manifesto as well as dealing with illegal migration by including specific ‘notwithstanding clauses’ into new legislation to stop the boats. This would entail excluding the operation of the European Convention on Human Rights, Human Rights Act and other international law which was obstructing progress.

She was to also deliver the Northern Ireland Protocol and Retained EU Law Bills in their then existing form and timetable.

My letter to the Prime Minister pic.twitter.com/7OBzaZnxr2

— Suella Braverman MP (@SuellaBraverman) November 14, 2023

The fourth point was in relation to transgender issues and she was to issue unequivocal statutory guidance to schools that protects biological sex, safeguards single sex spaces, and empowers parents to know what is being taught to their children.

She said in her statement to Mr Sunak that his decisions about the boats were “magical thinking”, adding, “You opted instead for wishful thinking as a comfort blanket to avoid having to make hard choices. This irresponsibility has wasted time and left the country in an impossible position.”

The missive was no surprise given Ms Braverman’s direct and blunt approach, but will unsettle the rejigged Cabinet which now includes ex-prime minister David Cameron as foreign secretary.

”Ms Braverman wrote: “Someone needs to be honest: your plan is not working, we have endured record election defeats, your resets have failed and we are running out of time. You need to change course urgently.”

She believed Mr Sunak has no real intention of fulfilling his pledge to the British people to stop the small boat crossings because he has wasted a year on the Illegal Migration Act and he has failed to prepare any credible Plan B in the event of legal defeat. She said she had received no reply to the back up migration plan she had prepared.

In her statement she said: ”I can only surmise that this is because you have no appetite for doing what is necessary, and therefore no real intention of fulfilling your pledge to the British people’’.

She said that she had striven to give voice to the quiet majority that supported the Tory party in 2019.

“These are not just pet interests of mine. They are what we promised the British people in our 2019 manifesto which led to a landslide victory. They are what people voted for in the 2016 Brexit Referendum. Our deal was no mere promise over dinner, to be discarded when convenient and denied when challenged.”

And her parting shot?

“In October of last year you were given an opportunity to lead our country. It is a privilege to serve and one we should not take for granted. Service requires bravery and thinking of the common good. It is not about occupying the office as an end in itself.”