James Cleverly defends return of Suella Braverman to Home Office

Foreign Secretary James Cleverly has defended the re-appointment of Suella Braverman as home secretary just days after she was forced to quit the job.

Ms Braverman resigned last week after admitting two data breaches.

Labour said her return to cabinet undermined new PM Rishi Sunak’s pledge to have “integrity and accountability” in his government.

Mr Cleverly insisted Ms Braverman had shown integrity by apologising for breaking the rules.

Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, he said Mr Sunak had accepted her apology and chose to re-appoint her because she had “very, very recent” experience of the Home Office.

“Clearly the PM wants to make sure that the department can deliver from day one.”

The new cabinet met ahead of Mr Sunak’s first Prime Minister’s Questions in the Commons at noon.

Labour’s shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper criticised the re-appointment accusing the prime minister of putting party before country “just a few hours into the job”.

The Liberal Democrats home affairs spokesperson Alistair Carmichael said it made “a mockery of Rishi Sunak’s claims to be bringing integrity to No 10”.

“A home secretary who broke the rules is not fit for a Home Office which keeps the rules,” he said.

Both parties are calling for investigations – the Liberal Democrats are asking for an inquiry into Ms Braverman’s appointment “including any promises Sunak made to her behind closed doors”, while Labour wants one into possible security breaches by the home secretary.

Labour have been granted an urgent question on the subject – this will give MPs the chance to question ministers about the appointment in Parliament later on Wednesday.

Some Conservative MPs have also privately expressed their concern to the BBC about the appointment.

Ms Braverman stepped down last week amid the final days of Liz Truss’s short-lived and chaotic premiership.

In her resignation letter, she admitted committing a “technical infringement” of ministerial rules by sending an official document to someone not authorised to receive it.

“I have made a mistake; I accept responsibility; I resign,” she wrote.

Her letter also hinted at disagreements with Ms Truss over immigration policy expressing concern that the government was not delivering on commitments to tackle illegal migration.

However, on his first day as prime minister Mr Sunak re-appointed Ms Braverman as home secretary.

It came three days after Ms Braverman had thrown her support behind him in the contest to replace Ms Truss, in what was widely seen as a significant endorsement by an influential MP on the right-wing of the Conservative party.

Asked if Ms Braverman had been given the job as a reward for supporting the new PM, Mr Cleverly said Mr Sunak had strong support from MPs in the contest adding: “I doubt he needed any particular individual endorsement.”

What’s behind Suella Braverman’s comeback and what does it mean for policy?

It’s clear what she wants to do in the job – in her resignation letter to Liz Truss she said she had “serious concerns” over whether the government was committed to reducing overall migration numbers and stopping illegal immigration.

At the Tory conference she talked about her “dream” of making the Rwanda policy work and wanting to eventually get immigration levels down to the tens of thousands.

Remember Liz Truss was poised to make an announcement on immigration policy as a way of trying to stimulate economic growth – something over which she was reportedly at loggerheads with Suella Braverman.

For Rishi Sunak, getting Suella Braverman’s backing was a key moment in the truncated leadership campaign – and returning her to one of the great offices of states is an overture to the right of the party.

He talked a lot about asylum seekers during the leadership contest over the summer – but less so about immigration, so we don’t know much yet about his thinking.

But it’s interesting he’s put one of his long-term allies – Robert Jenrick – in the Home Office as immigration minister.

Perhaps his eyes and ears in the department, someone to make alternative arguments or shape one whole policy area.

One to watch.

The row over Ms Braverman’s new job, came as MPs on the Home Affairs Committee heard evidence on Channel crossings.

They had been due to hear from the immigration minister Tom Pursglove, but his appearance was cancelled after he lost his job in Tuesday’s cabinet reshuffle.

Instead MPs heard from Danny O’Mahoney – the police chief in charge of stopping illegal Channel crossings – who told the committee that 38,000 people have arrived in the UK so far this year in small boats – an increase compared to last year’s figure of 28,526.

The committee also heard that around 93% of people arriving in small boats this year have claimed asylum. However, there is a backlog in processing claims and only 4% of applications from 2021 have been processed.

Mr O’Mahoney also noted there had been a huge increase in the number of Albanians arriving in the UK illegally – 21,000 in the UK this year, compared to 50 in 2020.