Suella Braverman, Controversy and Feelings of Sadness

One word that is being greatly overworked in comments and discussion of successive Conservative governments and prime ministers is "controversial". Not that I am finding fault with that; on the contrary, it is richly deserved. It is a term that can be applied to many of the characters that pass for ministers in this government, but none more so than Suella Braverman, the Home Secretary. Ms Braverman, as we know, has been appointed Home Secretary twice. During her first tenure from September 6th to October 19th, she caused controversy by speaking of her dream and obsession to send unwanted migrants to Rwanda. As we all know, she was "persuaded" to resign following her breach of the Ministerial Code by sending an official document via her personal email to another MP (some say she did more than that). In response to the controversy she created, she called her action(s) "an honest mistake". In her resignation letter, she bit the hand that appointed her by criticising the Truss government. 

Even more controversy erupted when Mrs Braverman was reappointed Home Secretary by Rishi Sunak on October 25 in the face of fierce criticism by all opposition parties in Parliament, even including some Conservatives. Since settling into her job for the second time, she has established her right-wing credentials in a number of ways. She has spoken of "Benefit Street Britain", which is a familiar theme of the Tory Right. She has used emotive language by speaking of an "invasion" of migrants. Her dream of deporting migrants to Rwanda, which would have gladdened the heart of every racist in the UK, has been effectively stymied, yet she continues to take an aggressive stand on this matter. As iNews says:

"Ms Braverman also said she would work to ensure that those who arrived in the UK by unofficial channels would not be able to seek asylum, something rights groups warned could breach international law."

While acting as Home Secretary to Liz Truss, Mrs Braverman made what I thought was an extraordinary statement. While condemning parliamentary opposition to increased police powers to deal with eco-protesters, in a rant that delighted the Daily Mail and the Tory Right, she said:

" 'I'm afraid it's the Labour Party, it's the Lib Dems, it's the coalition of chaos, it's the Guardian-reading, tofu-eating wokerati – dare I say, the anti-growth coalition – that we have to thank for the disruption we are seeing on our roads today.'

We saw no such ranting when a right-wing extremist launched a firebomb attack on a refugee centre in Dover, October 30th.

As reported, up to three Molotov cocktails were thrown at the centre, injuring two people. The bomber, Andrew Leak, 66, of High Wycombe, was found dead at a nearby petrol station shortly afterwards, having taken his own life. After examining his social media accounts, the police have described Leak as a right-wing extremist.

Interestingly, Suella Braverman, like the police and the right-wing press, was slow to describe the incident as an act of terror. As Miqqdad Versi said in The Guardian:

"The day after the attack, the home secretary appeared to go out of her way to say that the attack was not being treated as terrorism. This is despite the fact that the perpetrator had tweeted that he planned to “obliterate Muslim children” an hour before his attack. He referenced the far-right Islamophobe Tommy Robinson, repeatedly wrote about Muslim “grooming gangs” and shared content from far-right Islamophobic groups including Act for America."

Mrs Braverman's initial response was to describe the attack as "distressing". 

Now, quite rightly, Mrs Braverman has drawn severe criticism from all quarters, but I would like to give my personal reaction to her and not dwell upon the controversy (I'm getting to dislike that word) she has caused. Instead, I'd like to conclude by talking of my feelings of sadness. It saddens me to see someone of Asian origin uttering pronouncements that I would have expected from right-wing white racists. Her Rwanda dream and her talk of migrant invasion would have been the type of statement that Enoch Powell and his admirers would have employed (Powell's admirers still do). Back in the 70s, I, and tens of thousands of "tofu-eating wokerati " (personally, I hate tofu), marched against the National Front who were calling for the expulsion of all people of colour from the UK. Suella Braverman's parents would have been among the expelled.

If I could, I would warn Mrs Braverman of this: Fascism starts with the weakest first. Economic migrants are seen as an enemy today by the extreme and not-so-extreme right here. Assume that all cross-channel migrant traffic is halted, another minority group will take their place as a target of populist anger. Mrs Braveman, and other people of colour who share her views, might suddenly find themselves targets of the invective they use today.

The National Front - looking for targets, as always.