UK: Suella Braverman resigns as home secretary

Suella Braverman has resigned as home secretary after sending an official document to a parliamentary colleague using her personal email.

Ms Braverman acknowledged this was a “technical infringement” of rules.

She said people should accept responsibility for mistakes and added – in what will be seen as criticism of the PM – “pretending we haven’t made mistakes… is not serious politics.

She also used her resignation letter to attack Liz Truss’s policies.

Writing to Ms Truss, she said: “I have concerns about the direction of this government.

“Not only have we broken key pledges that were promised to our voters, but I have had serious concerns about this government’s commitment to honouring manifesto commitments, such as reducing overall migration numbers and stopping illegal migration, particularly the dangerous small boats crossings.”

Ms Braverman is the second minister to leave government during Ms Truss’s premiership.

Her departure adds further chaos to the week for the prime minister, at a time when Downing Street was desperate to show unity and stability in government.

Ms Braverman was firmly on the right of the party, and her resignation may well trigger further upset from some of her political allies, such as those MPs who backed her to be the Tory leader.

Her replacement, however, could be another opportunity for Ms Truss to try and bring in someone who is not a natural political ally to shore up her support.

Ms Braverman becomes the shortest serving home secretary since World War Two, having been in the job for only 43 days.

Responding to her resignation, Labour’s shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper said the government was “falling apart adding: “To appoint and then sack both your home secretary and chancellor within six weeks is utter chaos.”

The Liberal Democrats Alistair Carmichael said: “The only solution now is a General Election so the public can get off this carousel of Conservative chaos.”

PHOTO: BBC NEWS