LONDON — Suella Braverman, darling of the Tory right who became Liz Truss’ home secretary after a run for the party leadership, is out of the U.K. government after admitting a “mistake” in the handling of official documents — and she’s already taken a barely concealed swipe at her old boss.
In a further sign of turmoil in the crisis-hit Truss administration, Braverman said in a letter to the prime minister that “with the greatest regret” she was “choosing to tender” her resignation from the Home Office, regarded as one of the four top posts in the British government, after a “technical infringement of the rules” around the handling of sensitive information.
In a missive peppered with thinly veiled criticism of the prime minister, Braverman said she was resigning after sending “an official document from my personal email to a trusted parliamentary colleague,” explaining that this had been a draft written ministerial statement about migration.
“Much of it had already been briefed to MPs,” she said. “Nevertheless it is right for me to go.”
The subsequent parts of Braverman’s letter will be seen as a coded attack on Truss, who has faced calls to resign after a chaotic start to her administration amid plummeting poll ratings and a host of embarrassing economic U-turns.
“The business of government relies upon people accepting responsibility for their mistakes,” she said. “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.”
Even as she reeled off her own achievements at the Home Office, Braverman said she had “concerns about the direction of this government.”
She said: “Not only have we broken key pledges that were promised to our voters, but I have had serious concerns about this government’s commitment to honoring manifesto commitments, such as reducing overall migration numbers and stopping illegal migration, particularly the dangerous small boats crossings.”
Braverman recently ruffled feathers in No. 10 Downing Street and the trade department — which is trying to land a U.K. trade deal with India — after criticizing New Delhi’s demand for labor mobility in the proposed pact.
The Guardian and the Sun reported that Grant Shapps, a Cabinet minister under Boris Johnson and a key backroom fixer for Truss’ main leadership rival Rishi Sunak, has been tapped to replace Braverman.
This developing story is being updated.
