UK Lawmakers Question Suella Braverman’s Return to Cabinet Days After Dismissal Over Security Breach

Home Secretary Suella Braverman arrives in Downing Street ahead of the first Cabinet meeting with Rishi Sunak as prime minister, in London, on Oct. 26, 2022. Victoria Jones/PA Media

UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is under growing pressure as both opposition and Conservative MPs question his decision to reappoint Suella Braverman as home secretary just six days after she was forced to resign by Liz Truss over a security breach.

Braverman resigned as UK home secretary on Oct. 19 after she was caught sending a backbench Conservative MP a sensitive document from a personal email account, breaching the ministerial code.

But hours after Sunak replaced Truss as prime minister on Oct. 25, he reappointed her as home secretary.

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak waves to members of the media after taking office outside Number 10 in Downing Street, London, on Oct. 25, 2022. Dan Kitwood/Getty Images

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer accused Sunak of doing “a grubby deal trading national security” in order to buy her support in the Tory leadership election.

Labour’s shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper wrote to Cabinet Secretary Simon Case demanding an investigation “into the extent of this and other possible security breaches.”

The Liberal Democrats also demanded an inquiry into Sunak’s decision to reappoint her “including any promises Sunak made to her behind closed doors.”

Tory Disquiet

Conservative Party chairman Nadhim Zahawi defended Braverman’s reappointment, saying she deserves a “second chance.”

“She fell on her sword, she didn’t try to ride it out and try to hang on to her job,” he told the BBC.

“This prime minister looked at the details of this case and he believes in second chances and he’s giving Suella Braverman a second chance,” he said.

But a number of Conservative MPs have also raised concerns.

Caroline Nokes, who chairs the Women and Equalities Committee in the House of Commons, told the BBC there are “big questions hanging over this whole issue” and said she would back opposition calls for a full inquiry into the reappointment.

Former Tory chairman Sir Jake Berry told TalkTV that Braverman committed “multiple breaches of the ministerial code.”

While Braverman said she “rapidly reported” her “mistake” through official channels as soon as she realised it—a claim repeated by Sunak in Parliament during Prime Minister’s Questions on Oct. 26—Berry said she only admitted wrongdoing after evidence was put to her.

Trust ‘Breakdown’

Allegations that Braverman had earlier been investigated by government officials after the leaking of a story involving the security services have added to the concerns.

According to a report in The Mail, when Braverman was attorney-general, she was investigated by a unit within the Cabinet Office over a leak about the government’s plan to seek an injunction preventing the BBC from identifying an intelligence officer accused of terrorising his ex-partner.

The newspaper said no “conclusive evidence” was found about the identity of the leaker, but it said MI5 played a role in the inquiry after the leak sparked “concern” in the security services.

Mark Pritchard, who used to sit on Parliament’s Intelligence and Security Committee, said a “breakdown” in trust between MI5 and Braverman must be “sorted ASAP.”

Pritchard wrote on Twitter: “MI5 need to have confidence in the home secretary—whoever that might be.

“It’s a vital relationship of trust, key to the UK’s security and democratic oversight of MI5. Any breakdown in that relationship is bad for the security service and the government. It needs to be sorted ASAP.”

Reacting to the report, Downing Street insisted that Braverman maintains “strong relationships” with security services.

PA Media contributed to this report.