Around a dozen Tory MPs have raised complaints with the party’s chief whip over Suella Braverman’s controversial speech about asylum seekers.
The Home Secretary stoked controversy by claiming that some refugees claim to be gay to game the asylum system, and that multiculturalism had failed, in a speech to a right-leaning thinktank in Washington DC.
The MPs who have raised complaints have privately labelled her remarks offensive and divisive, according to the Times newspaper. Some of those to have raised complaints are said to be ministers.
The group are reported to have warned party officials that the speech could cost the Conservative Party’s reputation on LGBT issues and cost votes.
They are also angry that Downing Street signed off the speech with one questioning the “instincts of some of the people at the top of the party”, the paper reported.
A source close to the Home Secretary told the BBC: “The home secretary speaks for the concerns of the majority of the British people about uncontrolled, illegal migration - and as someone who works on this issue day in, day out and was a lawyer on well over 100 immigration and asylum cases."
The speech earlier prompted fierce criticism from charities and the UN’s refugee agency, after Ms Braverman called for the definition of a refugee to be tightened.
The UNHCR rejected calls for reform, instead saying more needed to be done by countries to speed up their processing of claims.
Others criticising the speech were LGBT+ rights charity Stonewall, which called it “concerning”, and pop legend Sir Elton John, who said dismissing the very real danger LGBTQ+ communities face “risks further legitimising hate and violence against them.”
However, Ms Braverman has stood by her remarks, rejecting assertions they displayed a lack of compassion for those fleeing from war zones.
Instead, she said it was “prudent” to question “illegal migration.”
“We are facing unprecedented levels of illegal migration, not just in the UK but also in countries like the US and other western or European nations,” she said.
“It’s right that we ask for greater collaboration at the international level amongst like-minded partners and, ultimately, the UK cannot sustain such levels of illegal migration or, indeed, legal migration.
“It’s indeed the prudent thing for political leaders to call this out and take steps to address it.”
In Westminster the address was seen by some as an early leadership pitch by Ms Braverman, who is a favourite of some MPs on the right of the party for her tough stance on illegal migration.
