PM Sunak Under Pressure As Ousted Home Sec Criticises Leadership

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is under pressure this evening as ousted Home Secretary Suella Braverman issues a scathing letter criticising his leadership and stating "Your plan is not working, we have endured record election defeats, your resets have failed and we are running out of time." Under British political convention, letters between prime ministers and sacked ministers are usually short, blunt and at worst may appear discourteous. This lengthy letter, though, represents a stark challenge to Sunak's leadership though, implying the PM has gone back on his promises and that he chooses “wishful thinking as a comfort blanket to avoid having to make hard choices”.

• Following the sacking of Braverman and appointment of centrist former PM David Cameron as foreign secretary on 13 Nov, backbench Conservative MP Andrea Jenkyns - a hard-right winger seen as loyal to former PM Boris Johnson - publicly stated that she had submitted a letter of no confidence in Sunak to the Chair of the 1922 committee.
• The risks to Sunak's position may have risen, but there could be relief for the PM in the form of a Supreme Court decision due on 15 Nov related to gov't efforts to deport failed asylum seekers to Rwanda. Should the Court find in favour of the gov't it could provide Sunak with a much needed boost among grassroots right-leaning Conservative members and voters. There is also the upcoming Autumn Statement on 22 Nov that Sunak could look to use to demonstrate his Conservative credentials with tax cuts.