Suella Braverman appears set to remain as home secretary over a weekend of remembrance ceremonies and protests, although her fate is still deeply uncertain after Jeremy Hunt joined the ministerial voices distancing themselves from her views.
Rishi Sunak is under intense pressure to dismiss Braverman after she wrote an article for the Times arguing the police were biased in the way they deal with different protests, a view not fully cleared in advance by Downing Street.
The prime minister’s spokesperson said on Friday that an “ongoing internal process” within No 10 into the article was taking place and that there were no updates on what might happen to Braverman.
However, it is understood that even if Sunak has already decided to sack Braverman for what was a flagrant challenge to his authority, this will not happen until next week at the earliest, given the sensitivities of this weekend.
Braverman will join the prime minister at the Cenotaph on Sunday for the remembrance ceremony, and Sunak has a packed schedule of events connected to the military and veterans.
On Saturday, Armistice Day, there is the possibility of unrest as pro-Palestine marchers demonstrate in central London. While this will take place after the 11am silence, and the route will not go near the Cenotaph, Downing Street said Sunak still believed the planned protest to be “disrespectful”.
A number of right-leaning groups have pledged to stage counter-protests. If there are clashes, the rhetoric of Braverman could be under scrutiny as to whether it might have inflamed tensions.
“Our collective focus working with the Home Office and other colleagues in government now is on ensuring that remembrance events this weekend are protected from disruption and that veterans and those gathering to mark Remembrance Sunday and in the Jewish community do not face unacceptable intimidation,” Sunak’s spokesperson said.
Saying that the prime minister viewed both the pro-Palestine protest and any counter-demonstrations as disrespectful, the spokesperson would not say if Sunak and Braverman had spoken since the Times article was published, saying there would not be a “running commentary” on the inquiry process.
There is, nonetheless, considerable anger within No 10 at the fact Braverman’s article ran without changes ordered by Sunak’s team, with increasingly few of her fellow ministers willing to endorse her argument that police tend to be softer on leftwing protesters than those from the right.
There is also upset at Braverman’s comparison of pro-Palestine activists to marchers in Northern Ireland, largely unionists, with whom the Conservatives are generally allied.
A number of right-leaning Tory backbenchers have spoken out in favour of Braverman, with Sunak facing a potentially significant internal row if she is sacked.
Asked on Friday whether he endorsed the sentiments, Hunt, the chancellor, said: “As many other cabinet ministers have said, the words that she used are not words that I myself would have used. But I have a productive relationship with her as a colleague and I have always given her the money that she needs to fund police, bring down crime and to fund the immigration and asylum system.”
Sunak’s spokesperson hinted that the prime minister also took a different view to Braverman. Asked whether he agreed with the home secretary, given Sunak had expressed very different sentiments, she said: “You have the prime minister’s words on this issue.”
It adds to a tumultuous week for Braverman. who is facing growing criticism over her language over both policing and homelessness, which she has separately described as a “lifestyle choice”.
As Sunak considers Braverman’s fate, a growing number of ministers are either distancing themselves from her language or openly criticising it.
Asked by LBC whether he would have written an article without getting prime ministerial clearance, the education minister Robert Halfon said: “No, I wouldn’t. Everything that I do in terms of articles or speeches, of course, must be signed off by No 10.”
Separately, Halfon told the BBC the decision over whether Braverman should stay in her job was “up to the prime minister”, adding: “It’s way beyond my paygrade in terms of who is in what position in his cabinet.”
