Sacked British interior minister Suella Braverman unleashed a scathing attack on Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Tuesday, accusing him of failing both her and the country.
Braverman, who is popular on the right of the party, remained silent after being sacked on Monday, but issued a letter to Sunak on Tuesday that might signal the start of a campaign to replace him if the Conservatives lose an election next year, as polls predict.
She accused the Prime Minister of betraying a promise to do “whatever it takes” to stop the boats and illegal migration on the eve of a Supreme Court ruling on whether the government can go ahead with its plan to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda.
She also stated that Sunak broke a series of promises he made to her so she would serve under him as prime minister.
“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,” Braverman said in the letter posted on X, referring to Conservative defeats in local votes under his leadership.
Reacting to her claims, a spokesperson for Sunak‘s Number 10 office stated that “the prime minister believes in actions, not words.”
“The prime minister thanks the former home secretary for her service,” the spokesperson said in a statement, further stating that Sunak was proud of bringing forward the “toughest legislation to tackle illegal migration this country has seen”.
Sunak fired Braverman on Monday after she wrote an illegal newspaper piece accusing police of double standards at pro-Palestinian marches.
Sunak took over as leader in October of last year and re-appointed Braverman as interior minister just days after his predecessor sacked her for security violations.
Sunak agreed to a paper with “clear terms” on policies like immigration, an agreement with the European Union on post-Brexit commerce in Northern Ireland, and others in exchange for her support for his leadership quest, according to Braverman. But she claimed he had betrayed her confidence by “manifestly and repeatedly” failing to deliver on his commitments.
