Suella Braverman has been sacked as Home Secretary as Prime Minister Rishi Sunak took action following her unauthorised article criticising the way pro-Palestinian protests had been policed.
A No 10 source said the Prime Minister “asked Suella Braverman to leave Government and she has accepted”.
The Conservatives said Mr Sunak is carrying out a wider reshuffle which “strengthens his team in Government to deliver long-term decisions for a brighter future”.
Suella Braverman comments - what did she say?
Rishi Sunak has been under mounting pressure to sack Suella Braverman since her article in The Times on Wednesday (November 8) which saw her compare a pro-Palestinian rally planned for central London on Armistice Day (Saturday, November 11) to sectarian marches held in Northern Ireland during the Troubles.
I welcome this statement from the Met Police. The hate marchers need to understand that decent British people have had enough of these displays of thuggish intimidation and extremism. https://t.co/yjJv8xqDZF
— Suella Braverman MP (@SuellaBraverman) November 6, 2023
In The Times article titled - Police must be even-handed with protests, Mrs Braverman said: "It is the pro-Palestinian movement that has mobilised tens of thousands of angry demonstrators and marched them through London every weekend.
"From the start, these events have been problematic, not just because of violence around the fringes but because of the highly offensive content of chants, posters and stickers.
"This is not a time for naiveté. We have seen with our own eyes that terrorists have been valorised, Israel has been demonised as Nazis and Jews have been threatened with further massacres.
"Each weekend has been worse than the previous one. Last Saturday, in central London, police were attacked with fireworks, train services were brought to a halt by demonstrators and poppy sellers were mobbed and prevented from raising funds for veterans.
"Now as we approach a particularly significant weekend in the life of our nation, one which calls for respect and commemoration, the hate marchers — a phrase I do not resile from — intend to use Armistice Day to parade through London in yet another show of strength.
"Here we reach the heart of the matter. I do not believe that these marches are merely a cry for help for Gaza.
"They are an assertion of primacy by certain groups — particularly Islamists — of the kind we are more used to seeing in Northern Ireland.
"Also disturbingly reminiscent of Ulster are the reports that some of Saturday’s march group organisers have links to terrorist groups, including Hamas.
"The answer must be: even-handedly. Unfortunately, there is a perception that senior police officers play favourites when it comes to protesters.
"During Covid, why was it that lockdown objectors were given no quarter by public order police yet Black Lives Matters demonstrators were enabled, allowed to break rules and even greeted with officers taking the knee?
"Right-wing and nationalist protesters who engage in aggression are rightly met with a stern response yet pro-Palestinian mobs displaying almost identical behaviour are largely ignored, even when clearly breaking the law?
She added: "It may be that senior officers are more concerned with how much flak they are likely to get than whether this perceived unfairness alienates the majority. The government has a duty to take a broader view."
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