UK General Discussion: Rishecession

[afleitch]

Her approach seems to be a combination of American talking points and a French attitude to the appropriate use of state power.

Yeah, she seems to think that as Home Secretary she can just direct the police to do whatever she wants them to, and that's just not how it works here.

What she's doing is rewriting convention in real time, with the help of the press, that this is exactly what the government has 'always done'. The same is true of the 'nothing else can happen on Armistice Day/Remembrance Sunday'.

It's amazing how quickly this has become embedded as a reality when it has never been. It is genuinely Trumpesque.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

What's interesting is that she gets up to this sort of nonsense, but doesn't use the powers that she actually has: if, for instance, she is as concerned about Hizb-ut-Tahrir as implied (and most people, whatever their politics in general or over the Middle East, who saw the footage the other week were disgusted) then the idea of banning them has been under periodic discussion for years and the person who ultimately has the power to actually do it would be... her.

[TheTide]

If she really wants to be sacked then just publicly call Sunak a 'useless ****'. It would endear her further to her targeted constituency within the Tory Party and also happens to be a sentiment that the majority of the general electorate share.

[Torrain]

Braverman *did* submit the article to Downing Street, but ignored the edits they imposed - including to cut the Northern Ireland references.

No 10 did not sign off the final version of Suella Braverman’s article accusing the police of being biased, The Telegraph can reveal.

The Home Secretary and her team defied No 10 by ignoring some of their requested edits to her article.

Four sources have confirmed to this newspaper that some changes demanded by Downing Street in the Home Secretary’s article in The Times, in which she accused the police of “playing favourites” with Left-wing protesters, were not incorporated in the final version.

Neither No 10 nor the Home Office denied the claim. Instead, a source close to the Home Secretary said: “We don’t comment on internal processes.”

Edit: Downing Street confirm they didn't sign off the article in the Lobby briefing. They are "investigating" and there will be a further update later, apparently. Sunak has "full confidence" in Braverman...

[TheTide]

https://twitter.com/SamCoatesSky/status/1722585392531034578?s=20

[CumbrianLefty]

Her approach seems to be a combination of American talking points and a French attitude to the appropriate use of state power.

Yeah, she seems to think that as Home Secretary she can just direct the police to do whatever she wants them to, and that's just not how it works here.

Never forget, this is someone who tossed a gratuitous reference to "cultural Marxism" into one of her speeches - and then had to admit she didn't know what the phrase actually implied.

[Torrain]

No 10 says it's not ready to give update on how Braverman's article published, and what sanction, if any, she might face
There is no update from No 10 this afternoon on what, if anything, it will do about Suella Braverman and her decision to publish an article criticising the Metropolitan police in the Times today without full Downing Street approval.

The afternoon lobby briefing has just finished, and the No 10 spokesperson said they were still looking into what happened. She did not give any details about the process and she was not able to give any steer as to when any “update” might appear.

She also ducked questions about whether No 10 accepts that Braverman definitely did break the ministerial code, as Labour says.

Edit: ripple of speculation about a snap reshuffle to deal with Braverman in the coming week, spreading through Fleet Street. Reported by Bloomberg, as well as Andrew Marr on LBC 

[🦀🎂🦀🎂]

Braverman is a fool if she thinks this sort of intrigue is a boon for her leadership. Even if you are an ultra conservative, why would you vote for this drama obsessed woman when someone like badenoch is right there? Heck, even if she just straight up resigned saying "i think the prime minister is weak on transgender Hamas public sector workers" it would be better for her than this (especially as she performed the same routine under The Lettuce)

[AustralianSwingVoter]

Edit: Downing Street confirm they didn't sign off the article in the Lobby briefing. They are "investigating" and there will be a further update later, apparently. Sunak has "full confidence" in Braverman...

[Torrain]

Long-read from the Swinford at the Times this evening:

• Sunak is mulling a formal investigation into a miniserial code breach for Braverman, as a way to kick it into the long grass if the temperature comes down over the weekend.
• MPs on the government payroll are trading blows - moderates like Paul Scully attacking Braverman openly, while more populist and hardliner MPs like Lee Anderson are trotting out the "she's saying what everyone's thinking" line.
• The PM might wait until after the Rwanda ruling at the Supreme Court next Wednesday, because that'll inform what the Home Secretary can do for the remainder of this term. 
• Certainly he seems to want to wait until after the protests on Saturday, to prevent an "I told you so" from Braverman on the backbenches.
• The names floated internally as potential replacements are Deputy PM Oliver Dowden (who'd hold onto that post), Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick, and Transport Secretary Mark Harper. 

I've also heard Badenoch, Gove, Mordaunt and Tugendhat floated as candidates. I'm skeptical that Gove would leave DLUHC though, or that Sunak would want to repeat the Braverman experience by putting someone publicly tilting at the leadership into a Great Office (which rules out the rest).

[afleitch]

Interesting comparison. Just to demonstrate the severity of the governments woes. And this is based on final possible election day.

https://twitter.com/OwenWntr/status/1721794165715931210

[Battista Minola 1616]

Got to admit that Braverman accidentally comparing pro-Palestinian demonstrators and Islamists to the Orange Order is incredibly funny.

I imagine this has angered militants on both sides in Ulster, but for different reasons. Which would classify as a better thing than the vast majority of what she does.

[Middle-aged Europe]

Braverman *lol*. Tories *lol*. Britain *lol*.

[Torrain]

Got to admit that Braverman accidentally comparing pro-Palestinian demonstrators and Islamists to the Orange Order is incredibly funny.

I imagine this has angered militants on both sides in Ulster, but for different reasons. Which would classify as a better thing than the vast majority of what she does.

Not just militants - it’s annoyed *almost everyone*.

Catholics see it as a denouncement of the civil rights marches they undertook on days like Bloody Sunday, and Protestants see it as dismissive of their self-identification as British.

I’ve heard quite a few variations on “she’s done the impossible, and united Northern Ireland - against herself”.

One of the more articulate summations of this was laid out by Sky’s Ireland correspondent yesterday.

[afleitch]

Got to admit that Braverman accidentally comparing pro-Palestinian demonstrators and Islamists to the Orange Order is incredibly funny.

I imagine this has angered militants on both sides in Ulster, but for different reasons. Which would classify as a better thing than the vast majority of what she does.

Not just militants - it’s annoyed *almost everyone*.

Catholics see it as a denouncement of the civil rights marches they undertook on days like Bloody Sunday, and Protestants see it as dismissive of their self-identification as British.

I’ve heard quite a few variations on “she’s done the impossible, and united Northern Ireland - against herself”.

One of the more articulate summations of this was laid out by Sky’s Ireland correspondent yesterday.

It's symptomatic of British politicians not understanding Northern Ireland full stop. She 'clarified' she meant dissident Republicans, but they don't have much of a track record on marches.

[TheTide]

I note that Nigel Farage is going on "I'm a Celebrity". Previous contestants include Matt Hancock and Nadine Dorries.

[CumbrianLefty]

Got to admit that Braverman accidentally comparing pro-Palestinian demonstrators and Islamists to the Orange Order is incredibly funny.

I imagine this has angered militants on both sides in Ulster, but for different reasons. Which would classify as a better thing than the vast majority of what she does.

Not just militants - it’s annoyed *almost everyone*.

Catholics see it as a denouncement of the civil rights marches they undertook on days like Bloody Sunday, and Protestants see it as dismissive of their self-identification as British.

I’ve heard quite a few variations on “she’s done the impossible, and united Northern Ireland - against herself”.

One of the more articulate summations of this was laid out by Sky’s Ireland correspondent yesterday.

It's symptomatic of British politicians not understanding Northern Ireland full stop. She 'clarified' she meant dissident Republicans, but they don't have much of a track record on marches.

One recalls a certain NI Secretary in May's government admitting not long after being appointed that they didn't really "get" politics there and why they voted for unionist and nationalist rather than Tory and Labour. Tbf to Karen Bradley (for it was they) she did seem to make an effort to learn on the job.

[Joe Republic]

Braverman is a fool if she thinks this sort of intrigue is a boon for her leadership.

Do you mean to tell me that the woman who announced her leadership challenge while still continuing to serve in the incumbent PM's Cabinet may not have the best political acumen?

[Torrain]

It's symptomatic of British politicians not understanding Northern Ireland full stop. She 'clarified' she meant dissident Republicans, but they don't have much of a track record on marches.

Yeah, this government has been pretty crap on NI - and it's only worsened in recent years.

I still regard Johnson firing Julian Smith (one of the few competent NI Secretaries in the past 20 years), just so he could punish another minister by demoting them to that portfolio as one of the nadirs of his premiership.

[TheTide]

I love how 'Bernard Jenkin' the Bernard Jenkin message is.

https://twitter.com/SamCoatesSky/status/1723044762649797049?s=20

[🦀🎂🦀🎂]

Got to admit that Braverman accidentally comparing pro-Palestinian demonstrators and Islamists to the Orange Order is incredibly funny.

I imagine this has angered militants on both sides in Ulster, but for different reasons. Which would classify as a better thing than the vast majority of what she does.

Not just militants - it’s annoyed *almost everyone*.

Catholics see it as a denouncement of the civil rights marches they undertook on days like Bloody Sunday, and Protestants see it as dismissive of their self-identification as British.

I’ve heard quite a few variations on “she’s done the impossible, and united Northern Ireland - against herself”.

One of the more articulate summations of this was laid out by Sky’s Ireland correspondent yesterday.

It's symptomatic of British politicians not understanding Northern Ireland full stop. She 'clarified' she meant dissident Republicans, but they don't have much of a track record on marches.

One recalls a certain NI Secretary in May's government admitting not long after being appointed that they didn't really "get" politics there and why they voted for unionist and nationalist rather than Tory and Labour. Tbf to Karen Bradley (for it was they) she did seem to make an effort to learn on the job.

In fairness to Bradley, i think she was trying to play the part of "patrician who wants to look past your divisions nd get everybody to play nice" but ended up looking like a naif.

[Torrain]

I love how 'Bernard Jenkin' the Bernard Jenkin message is.
https://x.com/SamCoatesSky/status/1723044762649797049?s=20

The full conversation is characteristically messy. Michael Fabricant whining about the government banning EDL marches, Danny Kruger announcing "here comes the cavalry" when Bob Blackman adds half a dozen Braverman defenders to the chat.

And, as is tradition, the leaked chat ends with an MP begging their fellow members not to share WhatsApp chats with the press.

https://twitter.com/SamCoatesSky/status/1723050318781456442

[YL]

What a dysfunctional mess.

[Torrain]

In related new, the Braverman wing of the party are threatening ministerial resignations and a raft of no-confidence letters if she's forced out. Almost worth it to hear them trying to talk tough, and make mangled chess metaphors:

One of those organising the letters of no confidence warned: “Don’t f*** with the home secretary. If you come for the queen, the rooks, the knights, the pawns and the bishops will all stand in the way.”

If anyone did resign (which feels like a stretch) -  Braverman's only vocal defender at Cabinet level, post-editorial is Welsh Secretary David TC Davies. Assuming it's not him, the only other names on the pay-roll that spring to mind are Lee Anderson (Deputy Party Chair) and Tom Hunt (PPS to NI Sec). Maybe Steve Baker (NI Minister), but he seems to have fallen in line.

[Zinneke]

In related new, the Braverman wing of the party are threatening ministerial resignations and a raft of no-confidence letters if she's forced out. Almost worth it to hear them trying to talk tough, and make mangled chess metaphors:

One of those organising the letters of no confidence warned: “Don’t f*** with the home secretary. If you come for the queen, the rooks, the knights, the pawns and the bishops will all stand in the way.”

I AM GONNA TAKE YOU DOWN. I AM GONNA TAKE YOU DOWN TO FUNKY TOWN.