Rishi Sunak is yet again weighing up whether to sack Suella Braverman - this time over an unauthorised rant accusing
police chiefs of "double standards ". The Home Secretary could lose her powerful Cabinet role for the second time in just over a year, having previously been fired by Liz Truss. Ms Braverman has a string of controversies under her belt, and the PM must now decide if it's time to show her the red card after a series of rash challenges. In her time as Home Secretary she has claimed homelessness is a "lifestyle choice", made misleading claims about grooming gangs, got embroiled in a row with Elton John over LGBT+ remarks and lashed out at tofu eaters. She was also accused of demanding special treatment after picking up a speeding ticket. Here we look at the times Ms Braverman could have been sent back to the backbenches, and whether her actions warranted a red card. Suella Braverman accused of peddling hate on
BBC Question Time as Tories turn on her Rishi Sunak is once again facing calls to give Ms Braverman a red card ( Image: PA) Leaking sensitive documents Ms Braverman was sensationally sacked as Home Secretary after she sent an official document to a Tory backbencher from a personal email. Ms Braverman, who had been in the role for just six weeks under Liz Truss , was fired for breaching the ministerial code last October. She said she made a "mistake" which she conceded was a "technical infringement" of the rules. But just six days later, despite promising a Government of "integrity and professionalism" Mr Sunak raised eyebrows by reappointing her to the role. Verdict: Straight red card, correctly awarded Picking fight with police in unauthorised rant Ms Braverman's latest controversy centres around an article she wrote for The Times, which accused police chiefs of "playing favourites" with pro-Palestinian marches. Her rant likened
protests to demonstrations in Northern
Ireland, which sparked a backlash. And it later emerged that she hadn't cleared it with No10, raising questions about whether she'd breached the ministerial code (again). Mr Sunak has been branded "weak" for his handling of the Home Secretary, but knows that if he casts her out she will become a martyr for the Tory right. Nevertheless, it's a bad look if he lets a key member of his team get away with going rogue. Verdict: Straight red card Saying homelessness is a 'lifestyle choice' Ms Braverman branded homelessness a "lifestyle choice" in toxic comments as she demanded a crackdown on homeless people sleeping in tents. She outlined plans to fine charities who help desperate people camp out on the streets. The top Tory wrote: "We will always support those who are genuinely homeless. But we cannot allow our streets to be taken over by rows of tents occupied by people, many of them from abroad, living on the streets as a lifestyle choice." Verdict: Straight red card 'Demanding special treatment' over speeding fine In May Mr Sunak refused to order an ethics probe into whether the Home Secretary sought special treatment after getting caught speeding. The scandal-prone Home Secretary, dubbed "Speedy Sue", repeatedly insisted that "nothing untoward happened" when it emerged that she asked civil servants to enlist her on a private speed awareness course. But the Prime Minister decided not to sack her or commission a formal investigation into the row after three days of dithering. Critics blasted the move as a "cowardly cop out" and accused the PM of being ruled by his hard-line backbenchers. Verdict: Red card if proved Labelling migrants as 'invasion' The Home Secretary has repeatedly been told that her language around asylum seekers is provocative and hateful. In October last year, in a speech to the House of Commons that was widely condemned, she referred to an "invasion" of the south coast. It prompted claims that she was mimicking the language of the far-right. Verdict: Straight red card Bizarre 'tofu-eating wokerati' outburst In a bizarre outburst last year, he accused opponents of being a "coalition of chaos". Moaning about disruption called by
protesters like Just Stop
Oil , she reeled off a list of things she hates.' She told the Commons: "It's the Guardian-reading, tofu-eating wokerati, dare I say, the anti-growth coalition that we have to thank for the disruption that we are seeing on our roads today." Verdict: Ticking off, but no card Video Loading Video Unavailable Click to play Tap to play The video will auto-play soon 8 Cancel Play now Grooming gang comments Ms Braverman sparked an outcry by singling out British-Pakistani men when talking about grooming gangs. This was despite Home Office figures finding white men under 30 are most common in child sexual exploitation cases. The Home Secretary told Sky News: “What’s clear is that what we’ve seen is a practice whereby vulnerable white English girls, sometimes in care, sometimes who are in challenging circumstances, being pursued and raped and drugged and harmed by gangs of
British Pakistani men who’ve worked in child abuse rings or networks.” Verdict: Straight red card Admission over legality of small boats bill In March Mrs Braverman was laughed at in the Commons when she said she couldn't make a "definitive statement" on whether her Illegal Migration Bill was legally sound. She told MPs: "Our approach is robust and novel, which is why we can't make a definitive statement of compatibility under... the
Human Rights Act." It was a pretty astonishing admission, as it could mean the Government is locked in extensive court battles going on for years. Verdict: Red card Attack on civil servants In March, an email sent out to Tory members in Ms Braverman's name blamed "an activist blob of left-wing lawyers, civil servants and the
Labour Party" for blocking previous attempts to tackle illegal migration. She was accused of potentially
BREAKING ministerial rules by questioning the impartiality of public servants. Dave Penman, general secretary of the FDA union which represents senior civil servants, said the email amounted to a "direct attack on the integrity and impartiality" of those working in the Home Office. The Prime Minister's press secretary told reporters Mrs Braverman "did not see, sign off or sanction" the email, which she said was sent in error. Verdict: No action Asking if she could 'claim speeding fine on expenses' Mrs Braverman asked if she could claim a speeding fine on expenses, a Tory MP claimed in a scathing 2am
Twitter rant. William Wragg, the former chair of the Public Administration Committee, wrote: “This evening, having kept quiet for a while, I was struck by the lamentable hopelessness of the Home Secretary, remembering particularly her first week or so as a Member of Parliament. “My clearest recollection of our Home Secretary’s legal acumen came from day one as an MP. We had a presentation from [expenses watchdog] IPSA.“ Her question to IPSA concerned whether a speeding ticket incurred during the course of parliamentary duties could be claimed on expenses. Rather embarrassed, the representatives from IPSA said no.” Verdict: Yellow card if proven Aide's denial over driving fine Ms Braverrman's aide insisted to The Mirror that his boss had never been given a speeding fine - which later turned out to be untrue. The Tory special adviser denied four times that the Home Secretary had been done for speeding and claimed it was “nonsense”. Labour's Angela Rayner told the Commons: "If the Home Secretary did authorise her special adviser to tell journalists that there was not a speeding penalty this would... amount to a breach of the ministerial code." Verdict: This one would go to VAR Row with Elton John over LGBT+ jibe Ms Braverman claimed asylum seekers "pretend to be gay" in September after being accused by Sir Elton John of "legitimising hate" against LGBT+ people. The Home Secretary came under
fire after demanding key UN protections for refugees are torn up, and said it should be harder for LGBT refugees to be allowed in. In a heavily-criticised speech Ms Braverman claimed being gay in countries hostile to homosexuality isn't "enough" to justify asylum claims. Verdict: Yellow card Not being aware of refugee killings in Rwanda In April Ms Braverman claimed to have no knowledge of the killings of 12 refugees in Rwanda after they joined a protest. Despite the incident being referred to in Home Office documents and raised by Yvette Cooper months earlier in the Commons, she told the BBC of the 2018 incident: "I'm not familiar with that particular case." Verdict: Yellow card Putting trade deal with
India at risk Ms Braverman is not famed for her diplomacy, and she was accused of fuelling tensions with India after saying an "open borders migration policy with India” wasn't “what people voted for with
Brexit .” It happened as the
UK was in talks with India over a new £24 billion trade deal - which has still not come to fruition - and her intervention is said to have undermined British negotiators. Verdict: Possible yellow card * Follow Mirror Politics on Snapchat , Tiktok , Twitter and
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