News Desk
Suella Braverman disregarded Downing Street’s advice and wrote a piece accusing the Metropolitan police of political bias, which has put more and more pressure on Rishi Sunak to fire her. A pro-Palestinian march is scheduled for this Saturday, and ministers and senior police officers have denounced the article, which implied that unidentified police officers “played favourites when it comes to demonstrators” and “double standards.”
The Times article featured Braverman’s claims that unnamed police officers “played favourites when it came to demonstrators” and were guilty of “double standards,” and on Thursday, five opposition parties publicly demanded her resignation. Downing Street had said that the article had not been approved.
NI politicians claimed the article had damaged the prospect of Stormont returning to a functioning democracy after Braverman described recent protests in central London as a “assertion of primacy by certain groups – particularly Islamists – of the kind we are more used to seeing in Northern Ireland.” In reaction to Braverman’s remarks, Labour tried to exert more pressure on Sunak by asking for an investigation into what seemed to be a ministerial rule breach.
In response to Braverman’s interference with the operational independence of the police and disregard for ministerial protocol, Braverman was called for resignation by Labour, the Scottish National Party, the Alliance party, the SDLP, and the Liberal Democrats. Home Office minister Chris Philp said in the Commons that it was “reasonable” for lawmakers to voice their concerns and ensure that law enforcement was policing communities.
In an urgent Commons question, senior Conservatives seemed to retreat from their support of Braverman, with only two backbench colleagues endorsing her criticisms of the police. With her remarks regarding Saturday’s march, a government minister has implied that Braverman is fostering “hatred and division.” The minister for London, Paul Scully, advised the home secretary to put more effort into “dampening things down” and reducing hostilities.
Mark Harper, the transport secretary, denied Braverman’s allegations, saying that law enforcement agencies “are focused on upholding the law without fear or favour.” Braverman’s remarks were deemed dangerous by Nickie Aiken, the Tory deputy chair and MP for the central London constituency that encompasses the Cenotaph. According to party sources, the chief whips’ office received a plethora of complaints about Braverman, all of which were forwarded to No 10.
After sending a formal document to her close ally Sir John Hayes, Braverman violated the ministerial code and was fired by then-prime minister Liz Truss last year. She remaNumerous hard-right backbench Tories still think well of her, and they might rebel if they feel that her dismissal was unfair or if it throws off the delicate political balance in the cabinet. Support for Braverman has been extended by some right-wing Conservatives, including Miriam Cates, the MP for Penistone and Stocksbridge and a prominent figure in the New Conservatives.
Chiefs of police have stated in private that they have never seen political inference as bad as they have with Braverman’s intervention. The Guardian was informed by the UK’s former top counterterrorism officer Neil Basu that Braverman should have been fired right away because of her persistent criticisms, which had caused the police to lose faith in her. The right wing of his party, led by Braverman, is expected to put tremendous pressure on Sunak to vow to withdraw from the European Convention on Human Rights if the ruling goes against the government’s wishes.
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