Suella Braverman hits out at Rishi Sunak ahead of pivotal Supreme Court ruling

The former home secretary yesterday afternoon released a letter addressed to Mr Sunak which is set to rally the right of her party around the issue of immigration.

The three-page letter blamed the Prime Minister for virtually all of the failings over immigration and asylum policy seen during her tenure in the job.

She said that he had “manifestly and repeatedly failed to deliver” on key policies ahead of today’s Supreme Court ruling over the legality of the Rwanda deportation policy.

Her letter claimed that he had broken promises made to her when she took the job in his cabinet.

Ms Braverman said that she had agreed to support Mr Sunak following “firm assurances” on cutting legal migration, overriding the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) and the Human Rights Act, Brexit legislation and “unequivocal” guidance in schools to protect biological sex, and the safeguarding of single-sex spaces.

“You have manifestly and repeatedly failed to deliver on every single one of these key policies,” she said, adding: “I must surely conclude now, you never had any intention of keeping your promises.”

Ms Braverman, who was eliminated from the 2023 Conservative leadership election with 27 votes from her MP colleagues, said that Mr Sunak was “rejected by a majority of party members” during that election and has “no personal mandate to be Prime Minister”.

Backing Mr Sunak for leader last year, she said that he was “the only candidate that fits the bill” following Liz Truss’ resignation as prime minister.

She wrote in the Telegraph at the time: “We need to move beyond Leaver or Remainer; One Nation or ERG; right of the party or left of the party; wets or thatcherites. Now, we all need to compromise and unite as optimistic and competent Conservatives.”

It came after figures on the right of the party criticised Mr Sunak after he brought back David Cameron as Foreign Secretary and promoted loyal MPs in his reshuffle on Monday.

Miriam Cates and Danny Kruger, who co-chair the New Conservatives grouping of MPs, said: “We are concerned that yesterday’s reshuffle indicates a major change in the policy direction of the Government.”

“The Conservative Party now looks like it is deliberately walking away from the coalition of voters who brought us into power with a large majority in 2019.”

The statement comes after Dame Andrea Jenkyns submitted a furious letter of no confidence in Mr Sunak to the Tory backbench 1922 Committee as a result of the decision.

Deputy Tory chairman Lee Anderson was also among hardline MPs at a Commons meeting of the New Conservatives on Monday night.

Conservative former Cabinet minister Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg said the reshuffle would not help the Tories win the next election, suggesting it will benefit the Reform party founded by Nigel Farage.

In what appeared to be a conciliatory move to the Tory right, GB News presenter and former work and pensions secretary Esther McVey was at the Cabinet table as a minister without portfolio.

The interventions by the right of the Conservative Party came on the eve of the Supreme Court’s ruling over the legality of the Government’s Rwanda asylum scheme.

Five justices will give their verdict before Rishi Sunak faces Prime Minister’s Questions after the Home Office last month challenged a Court of Appeal ruling from June that overturned the High Court’s finding that Rwanda could be considered a “safe third country” for migrants.

Delays and legal battles have meant that no deportation flights have taken place despite £140 million being given to the country as part of the deal between the two nations.