That Suella Braverman ever graced one of the great offices of state should forever dispel any illusions about our political establishment. She owed her grip on the Home Office to the tawdry cynicism of Rishi Sunak, whose thin technocratic veneer poorly disguises a man who burns with political ambition but doesn’t have the talent to match. Braverman’s endorsement of his leadership candidacy was important because, knowing that the average Tory member would probably view Genghis Khan as a milquetoast liberal, a chastened Sunak needed to bolster his right flank to prevent Boris Johnson from returning. This short-term advantage came with a heavy long-term cost; a pattern that has defined Sunak’s benighted premiership.
But while Braverman’s pantomime villain persona makes her downfall all the more satisfying, it would be a mistake to treat her sacking as a symbol of Sunak’s newfound moderation. That she crudely exploited Britain’s most extreme political sentiments in the name of self-advancement is undeniable. Decrying immigration as an existential threat to European civilisation was to summon a “great replacement” conspiracy theory beloved by the far right. She compared migrants to a hurricane – that is, a natural disaster that inflicts death and destruction. Her claims that most child grooming gangs were “almost all British-Pakistani” – disproven by Home Office research, which found most were actually white – were designed to foment racist division and hate.
