Rishi Sunak was urged by a senior Tory on Thursday to sack Suella Braverman in an upcoming reshuffle.
Lord Barwell, who was Theresa May’s No10 chief-of-staff, praised the Prime Minister for hailing the UK as the “most successful multi-ethnic democracy on Earth” in his speech to the Tory conference in Manchester on Wednesday.
He interpreted this as a “rebuke” to Rightwinger Ms Braverman who in a recent speech in the US suggested multiculturalism had “failed,” with some immigrants “not embracing British values” and living “parallel lives” to the rest of the country.
The Home Secretary, whose parents came to the UK from Kenya and Mauritius in the 1960s, also told the Tory annual rally that a “hurricane” of migration was going to sweep the world, which could see “millions” of people arrive in Britain.
Commenting on the PM’s speech and Ms Braverman’s remarks, Lord Barwell, former MP for Croydon Central, tweeted: “With a reshuffle coming, he should reflect whether it was right to give someone with such views such a high-profile platform.”
Ms Braverman said earlier this week that her comments about multiculturalism had been “somewhat mischaracterised” and that she believed the UK had a “great multi-ethnic society” and that in “many parts of our country integration has worked”.
Environment Secretary Therese Coffey is also believed to be vulnerable to losing her job, with claims that she speaks too often in Cabinet, and several controversies including the sewage scandal.
Defence Secretary Grant Shapps was forced to deny that Ms Braverman’s speech was an “Enoch Powell situation”.
Addressing delegates on Tuesday, the Home Secretary, who is seen by some MPs to already be manoeuvring for a possible leadership contest if the Tories lose the next election, said: “The wind of change that carried my own parents across the globe in the 20th century was a mere gust compared to the hurricane that is coming.”
Mrs Braverman’s speech also drew heckles from senior London Tory Andrew Boff, who took umbrage with her allusion to the “poison” of “gender ideology” and was ejected from the hall after voicing his concerns.
A Conservative for about 50 years, Mr Boff later criticised her address as “making our Conservative Party look transphobic and homophobic”.
In a recent speech in the US, the Home Secretary attacked the “misguided dogma” of multiculturalism.
