Home Secretary Suella Braverman after the first Cabinet meeting with Rishi Sunak as Prime Minister (Victoria Jones/PA)
(Picture: PA Wire)Rishi Sunak has got off to a flying start as Prime Minister.
A powerful speech in Downing Steet after the King appointed him PM.
Tory MPs uniting, at least for now, behind him rather than knocking lumps out of each other.
A Cabinet including all factions within the party to keep the civil war at bay.
A confident and impressive first performance at Prime Minister’s Questions.
All having shot himself in the foot by re-appointing Suella Braverman as Home Secretary.
It may be a self-inflicted wound that he thought, certainly in the febrile heat of the Tory leadership contest, that he had to take to win over the Tory Right to beat Boris Johnson.
But now it looks like it will dog at least the early days of his premiership.
It was Sir Keir Starmer’s main attack line at Prime Minister’s Questions which saw some feisty exchanges.
The session started with the Labour leader welcoming Mr Sunak, stressing he was the first British Asian Prime Minister.
Mr Sunak thanked him and responded by saying he hoped that while their exchanges would be “robust”, he hoped they would be “serious and grown-up”.
Then it was into the fray.
“Was his Home Secretary right to resign last week for a breach of security,” quizzed Sir Keir.
For those with very, very short memories, Ms Braverman quit last Wednesday after admitting a breach of ministerial rules by sending an immigration document to a colleague on her private email.
The bigger factor in her sacking, though, is believed by some MPs to be a major clash with the then PM Liz Truss on immigration.
“The Home Secretary made an error of judgement, she recognised that, she raised the matter and she accepted her mistake and that is why I was delighted to welcome her back into a united Cabinet that brings experience and stability to the heart of Government,” responded Mr Sunak.
“She will be focused on cracking down on criminals (cheers from Tory MPs), on defending our borders (more cheers), while the party opposite remains soft on crime and in favour of unlimited immigration.”
But Labour is not going to let this one rest and Sir Keir pressed on, stressing that the Prime Minister had promised to bring “integrity, professionalism and accountability” to Government on the steps of Downing Street.
“Then with his first act, he appointed a Home Secretary who was sacked by his predecessor a week ago for deliberately pinging around sensitive Home Office documents from her personal account.
“Far from soft on crime, I ran the Crown Prosecution Service for five years. I worked with Home Secretaries to take on terrorists and serious organised crime.
“I know first hand how important it is that we have a Home Secretary whose integrity and professionalism are beyond question. So, have officials raised concerns about his decision to appoint her?”
Mr Sunak replied: “I just addressed the issue of the Home Secretary.
“He talked about fighting crime, I would hope that he would welcome the news today that there are over 15,000 new police officers on our streets and the Home Secretary will be supporting them to tackle burglaries, while the party opposite will be backing the lunatic protesting fringe that are stopping working people going about their lives.”
Sir Keir remarked: “I listened carefully, that was clearly not a no.
“We can all see what has happened here.
“He is so weak he has done a grubby deal..because he was scared to lose another leadership election.”
The two leaders also clashed on the economy, on non-dom tax status and on whether there should be a General Election.
But it was Ms Braverman’s re-appointment which hung like a cloud over the Government on Wednesday afternoon.
Many Tory MPs support its controversial policy of sending migrants, who have crossed the Channel in small boats to seek asylum in Britain, to Rwanda.
Legal battles have stopped the Government from sending planes, with migrants, to Rwanda, but Ms Braverman has told of her “dream” of seeing a picture of one on its way.
But some are already expecting her tenure at the Home Office to end in a bust-up over immigration as Mr Sunak and Chancellor Jeremy Hunt opt to allow in more foreign workers to boost economic growth, against her views.
They sense trouble ahead.
Mr Sunak may soon be dreaming she was on a flight, to anywhere.
