22-07-2025
Sunak lied about stopping the boats, says Braverman
Suella Braverman has attacked Rishi Sunak for breaking his promise to ' stop the boats ', saying he 'wasn't willing to do what's necessary' to bring down illegal immigration.
Mrs Braverman, who was sacked by Mr Sunak as home secretary in November 2023, suggested the former prime minister had misled the electorate by repeating the slogan throughout his premiership. 'Stop the boats' was one of his five key pledges.
Speaking to The Telegraph's Daily T podcast, Mrs Braverman said: 'By the time of the last general election, he'd already failed at stopping the boats.
'He'd had just over a year to stop the boats. He'd passed two laws to stop the boats, he had promised to stop the boats. He'd broken the promise by the time of the general election. I don't think anyone believed him.'
Pushed on whether Mr Sunak was telling the truth, she replied: 'Deep down, I don't think he wanted to do what was necessary. I mean, you'd have to ask him what his intention was when he was saying those things. But ultimately, it's alright making a promise to stop the boats. But you've got to be willing to do what's necessary. It might be difficult, but it is necessary.'
Her comments are likely to deepen the rift between the pair after Mr Sunak sacked Mrs Braverman after she wrote an article arguing there was 'a perception that senior police officers play favourites when it comes to protesters' and were tougher on Right-wing extremists than pro-Palestinian 'mobs'.
This week, the Tory MP Fareham and Waterlooville unveiled her legal blueprint for how the UK could quit the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), rejecting 'apocalyptic' claims by the Left of the Tory party and centrist politicians that this would threaten peace in Northern Ireland.
In a 56-page document, the former attorney general argues the UK should rewrite the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, stripping out ECHR references and replacing them with domestic UK and common law human rights principles.
Writing for The Telegraph this week, she argued: 'This is not simply judicial activism; it is a form of judicial imperialism. The time for debating whether we should leave is over. The question now is how we leave.'
Kemi Badenoch, the Tory leader, has appointed Lord Wolfson, the shadow attorney general, to head a review into whether the UK should leave the convention or not.
On legal migration, Mrs Braverman said she supported Reform's net zero policy, saying: 'I think it's a good idea actually. I think that we need to commit to a cap but we need to actually be honest about what that cap is. And I think, 'as low as possible' or 'in the tens of thousands' is not credible.
'So I can see where Reform is coming from. They're trying to give a number and show seriousness about the commitment. Ultimately we need fewer people to come into this country.'
She also advocated Donald Trump travel bans for some countries, and said: 'If you look at the data and at where the most illegal arrivals are coming from then I think there needs to be more robust action. If there are countries who are unwilling to take back their offenders, then we should have some kind of ban.
'That's the problem with this country, to a large degree. We don't follow through with robust consequences, whether it's our weak human rights laws or our pathetic policies towards countries who don't cooperate with us. That's why we're seen as a soft touch.'
