Suella Braverman: Here’s why the former Home Secretary was forced to resign the first time around

Suella Braverman has had a colourful few years. Over the weekend, she came under a lot of fire for an article she published in which she criticised the Metropolitan Police for having a ‘double standard’ when it comes to handling protests. There was much speculation over whether Rishi would keep her as Home Secretary. Today, on 13 November, Suella was sacked from this position.

However, this is not the first time that she has been dropped from the position in a cloud of controversy. Back in October 2022, she was forced to step down for breaching the ministerial code. This was during Liz Truss’ short lived stint as PM, and when Rishi took over he brought Suella back on board again. Here’s a refresher on what happened back in 2022, and an update on what has happened today.

Suella Braverman forced to resign in 2022

Suella Braverman was appointed Home Secretary by Liz Truss, but only held the position for 6 weeks before a careless blunder saw her forced to resign. She breached ministerial code by using her personal email address to share an official document with a fellow MP. As TheGuardian explained at the time:

The draft written statement on migration was deemed highly sensitive because it related to immigration rules, which potentially have major implications for market-sensitive growth forecasts from the Office for Budget Responsibility.

Suella was reportedly ‘amazed’ and ‘in denial’ about this turn of events, and her resignation letter showed just how frustrated she was for having been singled out in this way:

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. I have made a mistake; I accept responsibility; I resign.

It was Rishi Sunak, who became Prime Minister on 25 October, who reinstated her in the role. However, since then she has made some very controversial comments, notably about how it is a ‘lifestyle choice’ to be homeless.

Suella Braverman sacked in Rishi Sunak’s reshuffle

Rishi Sunak, who is also often accused of being out of touch, reshuffled his cabinet this morning. Suella Braverman has been sacked, and replaced by James Clevery - who had been foreign secretary.

This comes after a weekend of criticism for Suella, following an unauthorised letter she wrote regarding the pro-palestine protests scheduled for Armistice Day. The Home Secretary defied Number 10 by ignoring some requested edits to her text, published in The Times.

In the article, she accused the police of ‘playing favourites’ with left-wing protestors. This part was not supposed to be included in the final draft, according to sources who spoke to TheTelegraph. Suella cited ‘reports that some of Saturday's march group organisers have links to terrorist groups, including Hamas’ and called for these ‘hate marches’ to be cancelled.

Her remarks have been seen by many as inflammatory and Rishi Sunak, it would seem, agrees that Suella was out of line. All she has said so far is:

It has been the greatest privilege of my life to serve as Home Secretary. I will have more to say in due course.

Who knows? Perhaps she’ll go for the position again - they do say that third time’s the charm.

Read more:

⋙ Suella Braverman receives two salaries, here's how much she makes

⋙ Suella Braverman was named after a TV series Dallas: 'My name is actually...'

⋙ Suella Braverman's unforgettable appearance at the Tory conference as she steps on a blind man’s dog

Sources used:

The Guardian: Suella Braverman forced to resign as UK home secretary

The Telegraph: Suella Braverman sacked by Rishi Sunak

The Telegraph: No 10 did not sign off final version of Braverman’s article accusing police of bias

Sky News: Rishi Sunak urged to sack Suella Braverman over 'deeply offensive' article on pro-Palestinian marches