Rishi Sunak is facing a civil war in the Conservative party over the future of the home secretary, as he held off sacking her for saying police were biased for allowing a pro-Palestinian march on Armistice Day.
Before what is expected to be one of Britain’s biggest ever days of mass protest on Saturday, allies of Suella Braverman claimed more than 50 Tory MPs were fighting to help her keep her job.
Some of the MPs – from hard-right Tory groups labelled “the five families” – are also blaming the chief whip, Simon Hart, for orchestrating a plot to get rid of her.
On the other side, moderate Tory MPs are furious with Braverman for stoking tensions before the pro-Palestinian protest, and are pressing No 10 and the chief whip to sack her, saying failure to act looks like weakness.
Sunak is considering Braverman’s future as home secretary after she defied Downing Street by submitting the controversial piece to the Times without making changes it requested.
The home secretary has kept silent since then, but on Friday met Sir Mark Rowley, the Met commissioner, and issued a statement of support for the police in an apparent attempt to calm the furore and stay in post.
A source close to Braverman said: “The commissioner outlined plans to continue working to maintain public order, ensure compliance with the law and maintain the safety of participants, police officers and the general public.
“The home secretary emphasised her full backing for the police in what will be a complex and challenging situation and expressed confidence that any criminality will be dealt with robustly.”
Since Hamas triggered the war with Israel on 7 October by killing 1,400 people and taking approximately 240 hostages, there have been a series of marches in London and around the UK of up to 100,000 demonstrators. The protesters have been calling for a ceasefire, with Palestinian officials saying more than 10,000 have been killed in Gaza. The marches have largely been peaceful but there have been some arrests for inciting racial hatred.
Sunak also said he had been assured by the police that they were “taking all steps to ensure Remembrance services are safeguarded from any protests”.
He added: “It is because of those who fought for this country and for the freedom we cherish that those who wish to protest can do so, but they must do so respectfully and peacefully.”
The prime minister’s spokesperson said on Friday that an “ongoing internal process” within No 10 was taking place and that there were no updates on what may happen to Braverman. Whitehall sources suggested Sunak could take the decision on her future next week.
However, Tory moderates expressed anger that Sunak had not acted decisively against the home secretary, who has also departed from government policy in recent weeks by trying to ban charities from giving tents to the homeless and describing pro-Palestinian protests as “hate marches”.
Jeremy Hunt, the chancellor, refused to express confidence in Braverman on Friday, along with Robert Halfon, a senior minister, who said it was a decision for No 10.
Over the last two days, one nation Conservative MPs have privately expressed their discontent at Braverman’s behaviour to the chief whip, with several sources saying they had rarely seen such anger within the moderate wing of the party.
One centrist former minister said they assumed Braverman would be removed within weeks in a reshuffle – unless she quit first. “As a party, our message on immigration and crime is strong, but the messenger has become toxic,” they said. “The only question now is whether Suella decides to resign in protest before she’s sacked.”
Senior MPs in the party also criticised the attempts to block the pro-Palestinian protests on Armistice Day and Remembrance Sunday. David Davis, a former Brexit secretary and advocate for civil liberties, said: “The Cenotaph is not an exercise in sentimentality but remembrance and what those wars were fought over – the right to protest, the right to freedom of speech … I am used to home secretaries behaving with a little more gravitas. It’s not just an exercise of taste. It’s an exercise in the necessity of the job. They behave above the fray as best they can because that does not inflame or flare up things that could go through perfectly peacefully.”
David Lidington, a Conservative former de facto deputy prime minister and ex-MP, also warned against the idea that ministers should be able to ban protests in advance. “Those, including some of my former colleagues, arguing or implying that ministers should be able to ban demonstrations might reflect whether they would be happy to see such powers exercised by a leftwing government,” he said.
In defence of Braverman, an ally of the home secretary said at least 52 MPs from the “five families” of hard-right Tory groupings had promised to stand by her if Downing Street attempts to sack her for defying Sunak.
A source close to this group said two of the MPs were on the government payroll and were threatening to resign if Braverman is sacked. Some have said they will write letters to Sir Graham Brady calling for a vote of no confidence in the prime minister if she is removed, the source said.
The MPs are said to be particularly angry with Hart, who they claim is attempting to gather support for Braverman to be removed from office.
The MPs come from among the members of the European Research Group, the Northern Research Group, the New Conservatives, the Common Sense Group and No Turning Back, who have been contacted since it became clear that the home secretary’s position was under threat on Thursday.
The groups have been contacted by WhatsApp, texts and phone calls asking MPs if they were willing to come forward in the event that Sunak attempts to sack Braverman.
The source said the “five families” reference was a “darkly comic” reference to the five families who have been alleged to control the mafia in the US.
One MP said: “There are many people upset about this because Suella has made a very good point about the Met and the treatment of demonstrators, and she also represents what many of our members and constituents actually say and think. To hound her out would be untenable.”
The MP declined to say whether they had discussed what action they might take if she was sacked or removed beyond protesting, but added: “It would not stop there. Colleagues are very upset about this – our voice must be heard in the cabinet.”
Miriam Cates, a Conservative backbencher, told the BBC she thought Braverman’s views were “mainstream” and much of the public agreed with her, while her colleague Danny Kruger also defended Braverman, saying: “Terrorist sympathisers are marching [through] London calling for the destruction of the Jewish state while the police stand by – but hey let’s all focus on which version of an article was cleared by No 10. Can the media possibly please focus on the things that actually matter?”
Braverman’s article was written in response to the announcement on Wednesday by Rowley that he did not have grounds to ban the march due to take place on Armistice Day. Sunak had previously urged the police to make full use of the law, suggesting he did not think the “disrespectful” march should go ahead, but ultimately he accepted Rowley’s operational decision.
On Friday, the Met said the policing of the Remembrance weekend would be “far greater and more complex than we’ve delivered before” and that officers would draw on “an extensive set of powers to prevent any disruption whatsoever”, with tight controls put on the movements of protesters.
Ben Jamal, the director of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC), a lead organiser of the march, said he understood people would be travelling from all over the UK to march on Saturday from Park Lane towards the US embassy in south-west London.
On a stage set up near where Nine Elms becomes Battersea Park Road, speeches will be made by the former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, the actors Juliet Stevenson and Maxine Peake, and the head of the Palestinian mission to the UK, Husam Zomlot, among others.
“We think it is going to be huge,” Jamal said. In a statement issued on the eve of the march, the PSC said: “More than 500,000 people are expected to converge in London, making it one of the largest political marches in British history.”
