To describe her reception as underwhelming would be to downplay the despondency that spread throughout the Home Office when news broke that Suella Braverman was coming back. “It was like that feeling you get as a football fan after a long VAR check that disallows a goal,” said one official.
Six days earlier it had been difficult for Home Office staff to hide their glee when Braverman resigned as home secretary for leaking sensitive government information to a Tory MP via her personal email address. “Relief was the overriding sentiment when she went,” said one official. In her place Liz Truss had quickly appointed the altogether less outspoken figure of Grant Shapps, and calm seemed to have been restored for the time being.
