As Home Secretary Suella Braverman struggles to keep her job in the face of vicious attacks from the official opposition, her fate will be the first big political test for new Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.
If Sunak bows to the almost hysterical shrieks for Braverman’s scalp she will be the fourth big beast brought down by a combined Labour and media assault – aided by a handful of usefully idiotic backbench Tory MPs only too willing to publicly undermine the government – since the Tory election victory in 2019. Already Labour MPs such as Chris Bryant have called on the Home Secretary to resign, while Keir Starmer has said Sunak should sack Braverman as she could pose a security risk. But sacrificing her will only demonstrate beyond all doubt that the smack of firm government is being administered by the opposition rather than those impotently sitting in Whitehall – with Sunak’s government in office but definitely not in power.
The first scalp the opposition claimed was the shiny pate of Dominic Cummings – hated as the architect of both the Leave victory in the 2016 Brexit referendum and the 2019 general election win with his snappy three word slogans ‘Take Back Control’ and ‘Get Brexit Done’.
Comments
Join the debate for just $5 for 3 months
Be part of the conversation with other Spectator readers by getting your first three months for $5.
UNLOCK ACCESS Just $5 for 3 monthsAlready a subscriber? Log in