Sunak has “full confidence” in Braverman – for now

The Prime Minister says he has “full confidence” in home secretary Suella Braverman – fuelling speculation he might sack her over her unauthorised comments about the policing of protests this weekend.

Famously, when the bosses of football clubs declare they have “full confidence” in a manager, it is a prelude to the sack. The manager is usually removed the next day. In politics, last year Liz Truss said she had “full confidence” in chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng not long before he was given the boot.

Sunak’s statement was designed to restore some semblance of unity to the message coming out of Cabinet – though it is clear many of her colleagues are uncomfortable with the position she has adopted. Chancellor Jeremy Hunt told the BBC he fully supported the PM in his decision and had “nothing further to add”, while noting Braverman’s comments were “not words I would have used”.

In an article for The Times published on Wednesday, Braverman had accused the Met Police of “playing favourites” over the handling of protestors, called pro-Palestine demonstrations “hate marches” and demanded an “assertive and proactive” approach from the Met Police. 

The differences between Braverman and Sunak on how to handle the protests on Armistice Day, tomorrow, are largely of style rather than of substance. The PM had previously tried to persuade Met Commissioner Mark Rowley to impose a ban. But it later emerged that the home secretary had ignored requests from Downing Street to tone down her Times piece, which critics claim undermines the operational independence of the police.

As Rachel Cunliffe writes for The New Statesman today, Braverman’s behaviour puts Sunak in a difficult position. Braverman’s willingness to “say the unsayable” has long offered Sunak a “lightning rod for right-wing sentiment within the party” which he himself would rather avoid. At the same time, her refusal to stick to the party line openly threatens his authority.

The PM’s statement of support today has not quelled rumours of a Cabinet reshuffle. It has been reported that some Cabinet ministers want to see Braverman go as soon as is feasible. 

Over 50 Tory MPs, meanwhile, have promised rebellion if Sunak relegates Braverman to the backbenches. Polling for The Telegraph suggests nearly three quarters of Tory voters back Braverman’s hard-line stance on pro-Palestine marches. 

But Braverman is personally unpopular, according to favourability ratings in which she fares poorly.

If censorship rarely works to ban books, Braverman’s incendiary comments will surely fail to dissuade would-be marchers to take to the streets this weekend. At the same time, as former chancellor George Osborne notes, her decision to pen an op-ed only confirms her “powerlessness” to stop them.

In other news, testimonials from the national Covid Inquiry this week revealed that police were given as little as 16 minutes to begin enforcing new laws surrounding personal freedom. Former home secretary Priti Patel also expressed regret at the imposition of £10,000 fines for breaches of lockdown.

Sunak’s premiership was branded as a return to normality, to government within ordinary constitutional boundaries. This week’s spat with the Met Police will, for some, call that commitment into question.

It also looks like evidence of this rather tired government’s inability to get what it wants, even when it comes to institutions over which it is supposed to wield authority.

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