Suella Braverman has hit out at Rishi Sunak after the Tories’ terrible election performance, saying the Conservatives took voters “for mugs”.
The former home secretary – who was re-elected to parliament in her Fareham and Waterlooville seat – is one of several MPs expected to put themselves forward to be the next Tory leader.
And writing for The Sunday Telegraph, Braverman certainly distanced herself from the former Tory government, despite serving in its cabinet for more than a year.
She said the Tories had “failed in office and deserved this result” after their historic defeat.
She also lashed out at Sunak, who appointed her as home secretary until her resignation in November 2023, over their failed plan to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda.
She said: “Rishi might not have meant Rwanda and did not do it, but I meant it and wanted it done.
“The promise he’d do it is why I’m the guilty woman who helped him PM.”
The new Labour government has now dropped this deportation scheme.
Braverman even criticised her fellow Tories for not trying to dissuade Sunak from pressing ahead with some of his policies.
She said: “So many of the so few colleagues who survived letting Rishi be Rishi still don’t get it.
“Many saw the result coming months ago and advised a way out. We were vilified as ‘divisive’ and ‘self-indulgent’. One colleague told me to ‘STFU’ [shut the fuck up].”
She said the Tories had an “idiotic strategy of intermittently and inconsistently making ‘Tory Right’ noises – which disintegrated when set against out liberal Conservative record.”
“Whatever some of my colleagues think, the voters aren’t mugs: they saw what we did in office and ignored what we insincerely said while campaigning,” she said.
She suggested high taxes, high immigration and “insane political correctness” turned supporters off the party.
Days before the polls even opened, Braverman said it was “over” already for the Tories amid all the devastating election predictions.
And in her victory speech, she addressed her party’s abysmal performance, saying: “I’m sorry my party didn’t listen to you.”
Following the historic humiliation, a battle for the soul of the Tory Party is expected to begin.
It is widely expected to either move further to the right in an effort to win back former Tory voters from Reform UK, or edge closer to the centre to appeal to those the party lost to the Liberal Democrats.
Braverman has not yet confirmed or denied if she is looking to run for leadership.