Hours after it was reported that British-Indian Home Secretary Suella Braverman was sacked over her controversial remarks, local media claimed James Cleverly has just been announced as her successor. According to a report by Sky News, Cleverly, who has served as foreign secretary since September last year, will now take on the Home Office after Prime Minister Rishi Sunak fired his prominent member from his cabinet this morning.
The latest development came on Monday at a time when Indian Foreign Minister Dr S Jaishankar is on a five-day trip to the United Kingdom where he is reportedly scheduled to hold meetings with now-scaked Braverman.
Is it a chaos 'orchestrated' by Braverman?
Braverman’s exit was less surprising. Sunak had been under growing pressure to fire Braverman — a hard-liner popular with the authoritarian wing of the governing Conservative Party — from one of the most senior jobs in government, responsible for handling immigration and policing.
In a highly unusual attack on the police last week, Braverman said London’s police force was ignoring lawbreaking by “pro-Palestinian mobs.” She described demonstrators calling for a cease-fire in Gaza as “hate marchers.”
On Saturday, far-right protesters scuffled with police and tried to confront a large pro-Palestinian march by hundreds of thousands through the streets of London. Critics accused Braverman of helping to inflame tensions.
What does Braverman say
Last week Braverman wrote an article for the Times of London in which she said police “play favorites when it comes to protesters” and acted more leniently toward pro-Palestinian demonstrators and Black Lives Matter supporters than to right-wing protesters or soccer hooligans.
The article was not approved in advance by the prime minister’s office, as would usually be the case.
Braverman said Monday, “It has been the greatest privilege of my life to serve as home secretary,” adding that she would “have more to say in due course.”
