Suella Braverman, a British Conservative Party politician, attended a private school before studying law at Cambridge University. In 2020, she was appointed as the UK Attorney General, and by 2022, she had advanced to the role of Home Secretary. Alongside her +£150,000 annual salary, Braverman frequently writes articles and speaks at private events, for fees up to £4,000. Her net-worth has been estimated at being over £3 million. Meanwhile, her proposed changes to the 1824 Vagrancy Act would have included fines to charities who hand out tents to homeless people. In 2014, three men were arrested and charged under the same act for taking food out of a supermarket bin.
The daughter of legal immigrants from Mauritius and Kenya, Braverman’s flagship policies as home secretary aimed to tackle “excessive illegal immigration”. This included the infamous Rwanda deportation scheme, in which 1% of UK asylum seekers would be deported to Rwanda as a deterrent to others. Despite condemnation from the UN, Braverman defended the Rwanda scheme as a “compassionate” and “rational” approach. However, the UK Supreme Court ruled Rwanda unsafe, citing a high risk of refoulement (i.e. returning to danger) for refugees. In response, the UK Government passed legislation to formally declare Rwanda as “safe”, sidestepping their international human rights obligations.
Her hypocrisy became most evident when she accused the UK police of having “double standards” when dealing with pro-ceasefire protesters. Braverman stated the police should have a “zero-tolerance towards antisemitism” and collectively accused the demonstrators as being racist. Nevertheless, Braverman has defended her usage of the antisemitic “Cultural Marxist” conspiracy theory in her public speeches.
Sources
Ahmed, Yasmine, and Emilie McDonnel. “UK’s Harmful Rwanda Bill to Become Law | Human Rights Watch.” Human Rights Watch, 23 Apr. 2024, http://www.hrw.org/news/2024/04/23/uks-harmful-rwanda-bill-become-law.
“Antisemitism & Misogyny: Overlap and Interplay.” HOPE Not Hate, 26 Sept. 2021, hopenothate.org.uk/2021/09/26/antisemitism-misogyny-overlap-and-interplay/.
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“Braverman Slammed after Calling UK Pro-Palestine Protesters “Hate Marchers.”” Al Jazeera, 9 Nov. 2023, http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/11/9/braverman-slammed-after-calling-uk-pro-palestine-protesters-hate-marchers.
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Casciani, Dominic. “Eight Things Suella Braverman Said That Made Headlines.” Bbc.com, BBC News, 13 Nov. 2023, http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-67374951. Accessed 14 Oct. 2024.
Chaplain, Chloe. “Tory MP Suella Braverman Repeats Anti-Semitic Conspiracy Theory.” Inews.co.uk, 26 Mar. 2019, inews.co.uk/news/politics/suella-braverman-cultural-marxism-anti-semitism-conspiracy-theory-273364. Accessed 14 Oct. 2024.
Stone, Danny. “Politicians Who Use Anti-Semitic Phrases like “Cultural Marxism” Have a Duty to Explain Why.” HuffPost UK, 29 Mar. 2019, http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/cultural-marxism-suella-braverman_uk_5c9e0d26e4b0474c08cd18cf. Accessed 14 Oct. 2024.
Walker, Peter, and Peter Walker Political correspondent. “Tory MP Criticised for Using Antisemitic Term “Cultural Marxism.”” The Guardian, 26 Mar. 2019, http://www.theguardian.com/news/2019/mar/26/tory-mp-criticised-for-using-antisemitic-term-cultural-marxism.
Zeffman, Henry. “Row Erupts over Suella Braverman’s Claim of Police Bias.” Bbc.com, BBC News, 9 Nov. 2023, http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-67364745. Accessed 14 Oct. 2024.
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