19 OCTOBER 2022 | NEWS
The Home Secretary, Suella Braverman, has tonight resigned from the Government after sending an official document from a private e-mail address, which was found to be in breach of the Ministerial Code.
It comes following reported tensions arising over the direction of Government policy over immigration.
The former Home Secretary and Attorney General has been replaced by Grant Shapps, who served in Boris Johnson’s Cabinet as Transport Secretary.
In her resignation letter, Ms Braverman said: “The business of Government relies upon people accepting responsibility for their mistakes.
“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.”
The former leadership hopeful also took a swipe at the Government’s commitment to its 2019 manifesto, adding: “I have concerns over the direction of this Government.
“Not only have we broken key pledges that were promised to our voters, but I have had serious concerns about this Government’s commitments to honouring manifesto commitments, such as reducing overall migration numbers and stopping illegal immigration, particularly the dangerous small boats crossings.”
Ms Braverman’s resignation has generated speculation as to whether it was motivated largely due to the Government’s recent U-turns on the ‘mini-Budget’, and the direction of the Government under Liz Truss.
The now former Home Secretary came under fire yesterday, accused of stoking the ‘culture wars’ for her comments towards Just Stop Oil protestors, who she dismissed as “Guardian-reading, tofu-eating ‘wokerati'”.
Last week, Kwasi Kwarteng was sacked as Chancellor in the fallout of the Government’s ‘mini-Budget’ and replaced by Jeremy Hunt, who MPs and lobby journalists now suspect is in the driving seat of governance.
On Sky News this evening, The Spectator’s Diary Editor James Heale reported that he had spoken to backbench Conservative MPs today who suggest the Prime Minister’s days are numbered by a matter of weeks or months.
As of this week, three Tory MPs have written a letter of no confidence in Truss to Chairman of the 1922 Committee, Sir Graham Brady.
Tonight, it is also rumoured that the Tory Chief Whip, Wendy Morton, has resigned her post as well, according to The Sun‘s Noa Hoffman, who reports that Downing Street have neither confirmed nor denied this.
Labour MP Chris Bryant has urged the Commons Speaker, Sir Lindsay Hoyle, to launch an investigation into evidence of “bullying” and “man-handling” of backbenchers by Conservative whips, as he alleged in the Chamber.
The matter related to a vote held in the House of Commons this evening on whether or not to back a proposal introduced by Labour about banning fracking. It is understood that the Government had issued a 3-line whip (departure from which can often be grounds for its withdrawal) to consider the motion a vote of confidence in the Government.
Among those individuals alleged to be involved are the Business Secretary, Jacob Rees-Mogg, who has denied the allegations, saying he would not describe the alleged events as “bullying”.
The Government won the vote by 326 votes to 230.
