Outcry after Suella Braverman makes a comeback as home secretary

Image by UK Parliament

Suella Braverman’s appointment as home secretary just six days after she was forced to resign after breaching a serious security code has been questioned by opposition MPs and a former watchdog.

Braverman became the home secretary under former PM Liz Truss’s administration but quickly came under scrutiny for her outspoken statements on migration and public disagreements with Truss and fellow minister, Jeremy Hunt.

She was accused of sending an email containing sensitive information relating to immigration rules to an MP through her personal email account, which ultimately led to her being sacked last week.

Yvette Cooper, the shadow home secretary, said Sunak was already putting party before country only hours into his premiership.

She said, “He has just appointed Suella Braverman to be home secretary again a week after she resigned for breaches of the ministerial code, security lapses, sending sensitive government information through unauthorised personal channels, and following weeks of nonstop public disagreements with other cabinet ministers.”

“Our national security and public safety are too important for this kind of chaos.”

Sunak in his first speech as the prime minister promised that he would lead the country and the Conservative Party with “integrity, professionalism and accountability” before the cabinet members were announced.

Alistair Graham, the former chair of the committee on standards in public life, said, “Normally the prime minister would have consulted a ministerial adviser for advice. A breach of the ministerial code is seen as a serious matter and would make any minister an inappropriate appointment to one of the four most senior positions in government.”

According to The Guardian, the government is yet to reappoint an independent adviser on ministerial ethics, after Christopher Geidt resigned in June during the Partygate scandal. Braverman’s return has also posed questions about whether a deal had been struck to keep her in the position and what Sunak plans to do in terms of immigration into the country, given her views on the Rwanda scheme introduced by former home secretary Priti Patel and reducing net migration by sticking to the Conservatives’ 2019 manifesto pledge.