Eight things Suella Braverman said that made headlines

Suella Braverman has been sacked as home secretary – leaving one of the most important jobs in government for a second time in just over a year.

She has been no stranger to controversy in her time in office. Mrs Braverman resigned from the same job while Liz Truss was prime minister before being brought back into government a week later by Rishi Sunak.

Here are eight things she said that made headlines – and caused controversy.

“I would love to have a front page of the Telegraph with a plane taking off to Rwanda, that’s my dream, it’s my obsession.”

This was said at a fringe event at last year’s Conservative Party conference, shortly after she had been appointed as home secretary by Liz Truss. She was referring to the government’s asylum plan, to take asylum seekers who have crossed the Channel to the UK on a one-way ticket to Rwanda where they could claim asylum instead.

Mrs Braverman faced criticism from refugee groups and others for trivialising the plight of people in need. The most important point about the quote is not whether you agree with its tone, but that the new home secretary was making clear her single priority would be controlling migration.

One of Suella Braverman’s first tasks as home secretary was to pilot through Parliament a plan to restrict the right to protest in order to stop highly disruptive stunts by groups, including Extinction Rebellion and Just Stop Oil – such as motorway occupations.

She accused the opposition of being in league with eco-protesters because a previous version of the measures had failed to win enough support.

“I am afraid that it is the Labour Party, the Lib Dems, the coalition of chaos, the Guardian-reading, tofu-eating wokerati and, dare I say, the anti-growth coalition that we have to thank for the disruption we are seeing on our roads today.”

“I have made a mistake; I accept responsibility: I resign”

The very next day Mrs Braverman sensationally quit as home secretary, after confessing to a serious blunder.

She had sent a confidential and sensitive government email to her own Gmail account and then forwarded it to her confidante and Tory backbencher, John Hayes.

However, the real story here was the timing. The incident had happened some time earlier – and her resignation came as Liz Truss was on the precipice and her government in turmoil.

In her resignation letter, Mrs Braverman accused the embattled PM of breaking key pledges. The next day, Liz Truss resigned as prime minister. Less than a week later, Mrs Braverman’s serious ministerial error was forgiven by the new prime minister, Rishi Sunak – and she was back in the same job.

“The British people deserve to know which party is serious about stopping the invasion on our southern coast.”

There had been months of rising political tension over small boat crossings – and at the end of October 2022, a man firebombed the government’s arrivals centre for the migrants in Dover’s docks. Separately, independent inspectors warned conditions were “wretched” at a migrant reception camp.

Mrs Braverman came out fighting in the Commons, but days later, she was confronted in her constituency by 83-year-old Holocaust survivor Joan Salter.

“When I hear you using words against refugees like ‘swarms’ and an ‘invasion’,” she said, “I am reminded of the language used to dehumanise and justify the murder of my family and millions of others.”

“There are 100 million people around the world who could qualify for protection under our current laws. Let us be clear – they are coming here.”

For the second time in two years, the government launched a new immigration plan.

Parliament eventually voted to place a legal duty on the home secretary to not only detain anyone crossing the English Channel, but also remove them to another country, such as Rwanda.

In the Commons, Mrs Braverman stuck to her guns and made the 100 million claim. The next day, she doubled-down, telling the Daily Mail there was “likely billions” eager to come to the UK.

She returned to analysing migrant trends at the Conservative Party conference, last month, declaring: “The wind of change that carried my own parents across the globe in the 20th Century was a mere gust compared with the hurricane that is coming.”

Experts have disputed her projections, saying the UK receives far fewer asylum seekers than other countries, and that recent record numbers of arrivals of workers and students will likely level off.

“Multiculturalism makes no demands of the incomer to integrate. It has failed.”

The daughter of immigrants from Mauritius and Kenya, Mrs Braverman told an American think tank that migrants end up living “parallel lives” – a phrase first used 20 years ago in relation to complex riots in northern England.

Opponents said she had given up fixing the UK’s broken asylum system and was trying to set out her stall for the Tory leadership.

“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.”

That social media post came amid government backroom wrangling over what would make it into this year’s King’s Speech. Mrs Braverman reportedly wanted to impose fines on charities who give tents to rough sleepers.

Her push to get the police included triggered an internal row with colleagues. The idea was not included in the speech.

“There’s only one way to describe those marches: they are hate marches.”

Speaking after a government emergency meeting over the crisis in Gaza, Mrs Braverman laid into the pro-Palestinian demonstrators amid rows over whether their chants amounted to antisemitic attacks.

And it’s the row that has ultimately led to her downfall.

On 8 November, the Times newspaper published a column by the Mrs Braverman where she repeated the phrase – and also accused the police of bias, saying they were “playing favourites” with some demonstrations and using stronger tactics against some and not others.

This triggered accusations of political interference in independent policing – an absolute red line that ministers cannot cross under British laws.

Her comments were condemned by former police officers, MPs and Labour, who accused her of “deliberately creating division”. Four days later – and following clashes between protesters, counter-protesters and police in London on Armistice Day – she was sacked.