Suella Braverman is facing a growing Tory backlash over her tough rhetoric on Gaza protests and the homeless today, with a senior backbencher publicly accusing her of ‘inflaming’ community tensions.
Gloucester MP Richard Graham said that ‘tone matters’ as he attacked her high-profile interventions in recent days.
What Suella Braverman said
The Home Secretary is under fire after referring to pro-Palestinian demonstrations in London as ‘hate marches’ in a growing row over whether one should be allowed to take place on Armistice Day, November 11.
She is also facing pushback – including from fellow minister Alex Chalk today – for describing rough sleeping as a ‘lifestyle choice’ as she promoted plans to criminalise charities for providing tents.
The proposal reported by the FT, which Mrs Braverman confirmed on X on Saturday, was conspicuous in its absence from the King’s Speech Tuesday afternoon as the backlash grows. No10 refused to confirm that it would be introduced at a later date.
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Does Rishi Sunak support Suella Braverman?
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak declined to support her remarks when it was raised in the debate on the King’s Speech today.
In a tweet Tuesday morning Mr Graham, the PM’s trade envoy to Indonesia, Malaysia and the Phillipines, said: ‘Tone matters. It’s our duty to calm not inflame: to reduce, not increase, tensions.
‘The language of the Home Secretary whether on tents or on marches is unhelpful to cohesion in our communities and is not in my name: nor does it reflect how we tackle issues in Gloucester.’
It was reported over the weekend that the Cabinet minister has proposed establishing a civil offence to deter charities from giving tents to homeless people.
Suella’s words
In a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, the Home Secretary said the UK should not become San Francisco or Los Angeles, and warned against rough sleeping becoming a ‘lifestyle choice’.
Rishi Sunak failed to answer when asked if he agreed with the Home Secretary when she said that homelessness is a lifestyle choice.
Intervening during Mr Sunak’s speech, Labour former minister Sir Chris Bryant asked him: ‘Bearing in mind that a very significant proportion of people who sleep rough are army veterans and people who have acquired brain injuries, does the Prime Minister agree with the Home Secretary when she says that homelessness, sleeping rough, is a lifestyle choice and if he doesn’t, will he sack her?’
