Home Secretary resigns, another setback for Liz Truss

Suella Braverman broke the departmental code. She also expressed her “serious concerns” about government policy.

Source AFP

Suella Braverman left the British government and took the opportunity to distance herself from government policy, particularly on immigration.
© ADRIAN DENNIS / AFP

Published on 10/19/2022 at 7:11 p.m.

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En reprieve after six weeks in Downing Street, the British Prime Minister, Liz Truss, suffered a new setback on Wednesday with the departure of her Interior Minister, Suella Braverman.

Rejected by public opinion, challenged within her own majority, the conservative leader assured that she wanted to remain in office despite the abandonment of her economic program, which had caused a storm on the financial markets. But his position appears to be weakened with the departure of a new heavyweight from his government, less than a week after having had to dismiss his finance minister and close friend, Kwasi Kwarteng.

Suella Braverman, 42, said she quit because her personal email was used to send official documents, breaking the departmental code. She also expressed her “serious concerns” about the policy of the government which, according to her, is giving up on its promises, in particular on the migration file. According to several British media, she will be replaced by Grant Shapps, Minister of Transport under Boris Johnson. His departure, if it does not seem linked to a rebellion within the government, like the one which had pushed Boris Johnson to the departure in July, falls badly for Liz Truss who seeks to regain control after the tearing to pieces on Monday, by her new Finance Minister Jeremy Hunt, the massive tax cuts she had promised.

She was very combative at midday during the weekly appointment of questions in Parliament, a major test for her ability to bounce back, defending her policy in the face of boos and calls for the resignation of the Labor opposition. “I am a fighter, not someone who gives up,” she hammered.

After this session in Parliament, Liz Truss was due to answer questions from journalists during a visit to a factory in north London, but had to cancel to speak with Suella Braverman. The latter, a former lawyer, unsuccessful candidate in the race for Downing Street this summer, is a very right-wing conservative who found herself in charge of the very sensitive file of illegal Channel crossings, which are reaching record levels.

READ ALSOUnited Kingdom: how Liz Truss is trying to save her skin

A lasting political crisis

The crisis that the government is going through dates back to the presentation on September 23 of the “mini-budget” of the then Minister of Finance, Kwasi Kwarteng, who had raised fears of a slippage in the public accounts. The pound had fallen to an all-time low and long-term government borrowing rates had soared. The Bank of England had to intervene to prevent the situation from degenerating into a financial crisis.

In an attempt to calm the economic and political storm, Liz Truss had to appoint a new finance minister on Friday, Jeremy Hunt, responsible for rectifying his economic program and reassuring the markets about the seriousness of the government’s budget. The latter, now widely seen as having gained the upper hand over Liz Truss, reneged on almost all the tax cuts promised by the Prime Minister and warned that savings should be made in public spending, raising fears of the return to austerity, as after the 2008 financial crisis.

As inflation hit a 40-year high of 10.1% in September, however, the Prime Minister wanted to quell rumors that she would not increase pensions to the amount of inflation. According to a YouGov poll, only one in ten Britons have a favorable opinion of Liz Truss, one in five among Conservative Party voters. And 55% of majority party members believe that Liz Truss should resign, compared to 38% who want her to remain in office.

Two years before the next legislative elections, the Labor opposition is beating the Conservatives in the polls. Now, six MPs from her party have already publicly urged Liz Truss to leave. In the absence of an obvious successor, the conservatives are however reluctant to engage in a new and long process of appointing a new leader, and are looking for a consensus to agree on a name, but seem far from achieve it.