Stella Braverman's letter

[nettie434]

Lots of discussion on the news about Suella Braverman's letter to Rishi Sunak.

It includes the claim that Sunak gave her the following assurance that the government would 'issue unequivocal statutory guidance to schools that protects biological sex, safeguards single sex spaces, and empowers parents to know what is being taught to their children.'

Maybe this explains why the government seems to have become less committed to this policy recently.

Full text here:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-67416146

Braverman is a self-serving liar. I don't trust a word she says.

Her basic point that Sunak is weak, out of touch and ineffective is true but he's still less terrible as PM than she'd be.

Choosing between any of the current crop of Tories is like choosing how you want your excrement served for lunch.

Well, whatever you think of her position, that is an eloquent letter showing at least 10x the ability to pursue a rational train of thought than most politicians. It's also fairly straight talking.

So, I don't agree with her on immigration or on curtailing protests (although I do think the police have displayed bias which is profoundly anti-democratic and political and needs to stop), I do agree with her on single sex spaces and particularly the safeguarding disaster that's happening in schools as a result of obfuscation around biological sex. I also agree with her that the level of anti-semitism being shown is concerning, and seems to me to be very much reminiscent of what happened prior to the Holocaust.

At least I know where she stands. Which is more than most politicians. Particularly most in Labour who can't string a coherent sentence together and don't even answer the question about what their position is on anything.

It's interested how hated she is. I can't help but feel there is a lot of misogyny and racism in there. A sense of 'how dare she as a minority woman hold these right wing opinions'. It's really interesting and it says more about the people who express such hatred than it does about her.

I suppose she's positioning herself as a leader of the right wing of the Conservative party.

Well said, pronouns

Agree regarding the misogyny & racism. Couldn't believe this. This woman is a teacher(?)

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/teacher-sought-by-police-over-coconut-poster-at-pro-palestinian-march-nwdptrf93

I think this letter exposes why she was hopeless as a minister.

Blaming Sunak for the failures of her department is pathetic. Has she been able to complete one task she was given?

And the rest is just the usual boring Tory in fighting. Presumably she wants to become the lead of the ERG or whatever it is called, and this is her bigging herself up as even more reactionary and uncaring than the existing ERG.

What is interesting is that apparently Sunak decided she was a liability after the tent as a lifestyle choice foot in mouth blunder. And as we now know, he is so short of talent, he had to send Gove off to negotiate with Cameron, and that took a little time.

And then she went and made herself even more idiotic in the role of a minister with her comments about the police. He must have been rubbing his hands with glee when she said that. Then the article she failed to amend as agreed with him. But he did cannily not sack her until after the 11th November demo, and what the media said was a "counter demonstration" was in fact a group of lager louts looking for a fight having been taken in by the tabloids claiming the STW march was going to the Cenotaph. I'm amazed she didn't send them a note saying they were heros.

But by waiting until this faisco was over and nothing but the bruised pride of the best of Britain, the EDL, Sunak was on firm ground to say she had not only insulted the police, but totally over dramatised the problem and aggravated it. Although created extra work for the police.

People say it is great that she is a "conviction" politician, but unfortunately even if you can get away with Trumpian style self aggrandising, and presuming your role as a politician is to dictate culture and beliefs, once you are a minister you cant do that.

If she thought Sunak and the rest were so awful, why did she take the job, or continue in it. Let alone work with someone she now claims isn't legitimate.

Not only obnoxious, but totally useless.

Will be interesting to see the High Court ruling tomorrow Rwanda? Maybe all this big mouth talk has been because she suspected she would lose and now she can just add it to her list of failed institutions, ie the Tory Party, the Police, and so on, and so on.

(I will admit part of me wondered whether KB would get a more important job. She is just as direct, but doesn't stoop the childish level of personal insults. )

I see that Sunak's token right wing minister is now going to be Esther McVey as ... "Common Sense Minister".

You couldn't make it up ... One return to Cabinet - Cameron was strange enough, but a second - McVey is surely a sign of desperation.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/esther-mcvey-suella-braverman-cabinet-whitehall-civil-service-b2446907.html

IwantToRetire · Today 01:14

And as we now know, he is so short of talent, he had to send Gove off to negotiate with Cameron, and that took a little time.

Yes, it speaks volumes that, out of 350 MPs, he has nobody with the ability to fulfil the role, so he's asked a weak, vacillating husk to do the job.

But he does actually have people who can do the role. I'm convinced Kemi B could do any job given to her. Another who shows impressive levels of competence daily is Miriam Cates who is a former teacher so he could move Keegan into another position (since he obviously thinks she's good - I'd disagree - but if he trusts her with something as important as Education in its current state she should in theory be someone that could be moved to another senior job) and put MC in education.

Sunak is weak, no doubt about that. If he's going to appoint former politicians, why not Teresa May who at least had a reputation for competence even if she didn't have charisma. Rather than Cameron who was responsible for Brexit and all the fallout from that, a Bullingdon club member and as out of touch with normal people as it's really possible to be (possibly bar Sunak himself).

I find it a rather worrying development that Cameron and Blair are supposedly going to be involved with politics around the Israeli - Palestine conflict.... I mean neither of them has a great track record and two white male failed politicians (one mainly known for starting an illegal war in the Middle East) doesn't seem like a very wise choice. Hopefully Blair won't be appointed and they'll be largely ignored by anyone that matters.

It very much comes across as Sunak not really understanding the electorate and just using his mates. However, Labour show even more disconnect from reality as well as disturbing levels of racism towards BAME women with their own opinions and also anti- semitism so being not quite so crap by comparison is really all he's got going for him. Bit silly to reduce that 'not quite so crap' advantage by appointing Cameron IMHO.

I wish she'd just fade into a well--deserved obscurity like Raab, Williamson and Zahawi (who talks about them now?) but unfortunately the media are dancing to her publicity seeking tune. Her handful of loony MP supporters are getting too much exposure as well.

I suspect Sunak is so insulated by wealth that he doesn't like people who don't mollycoddle his ego and he doesn't like dealing with the complex problems that the PM job entails. His inability to deal with serious safeguarding failures in schools is suggestive of this (a multitude of safeguarding failures - I'm not talking just about gender ideology, I'm talking about sometimes dangerously inadequate SEND provision and pushing teachers into the role of social workers when they are not qualified for that etc). Badenoch and Cates seem like women who speak plainly and address reality head on so that probably explains their exclusion. Keegan seems like someone who just says whatever the person they're talking to wants to hear. I'd say McVey and Cameron also have the skill of bullshit and just telling people what they want to hear.

I really think that having the single sex provision stuff so closely tied to braverman is a big problem.

McVey's appointment was a rare moment of intelligence from Sunak.

Her husband is also a Tory MP, so Sunak gets two for the price of one. And they host a GB News show. Philip Davies defended Sunak decision to sack Braverman numerous times on the channel on Monday. Then Esther's appointment was announced.

I'm not sure why you need to bring their skin colour into it.. it's ok if they are 'white men', a huge portion of this country are. You wouldn't complain that two people were 'black men', inverse is also not appropriate.

Small technical point but, they don't present it together anymore, she's resigned from GB news. She can't be a minister and continue with the show.

I think it's a rather pointless appointment, and was really just a vague attempt at keeping the right wing of the party happy by having someone on the right, but not actually giving her anything proper to do.

I struggle to believe a word Braverman says. Nothing she could say would persuade me to vote for them.

Thanks @CrispsandCheeseSandwich I did wonder if she'd have to give the GB News gig up.

Your 2nd paragraph is spot on.