By Felix Von der Geest
The appointment of Suella Braverman makes 2 things very clear for Rishi Sunak, firstly his government will continue with the ‘culture war’ and secondly like under Boris Johnson ethics will be disregarded when politically expedient.
Braverman is a politician firmly focused on rhetoric rather than delivery. It is a theme of the last few years in politics, we think of classic Johnson promises ‘leveling up’ ‘global Britain’ ‘take back control’. So why would Rishi appoint her, because he thinks the conservatives can win the election on the back of a culture war. Rishi hopes that if he devotes enough time to blaming ‘the guardian reading, tofu eating wokerati’ then people might just forget about the fact there are millions in this country relying on foodbanks. Suella Braverman will continue to bang on about “her dream to send asylum seekers to Rwanda but, the situation will be unlikely to change. The Conservatives want the boat crossings to continue because it helps them win elections. We saw the same rhetoric peddled under Brexit. The leave campaign told voters they could ‘take back control of our borders’ but in reality, Brexit made it harder to deal with small boat crossings. Now once again the conservatives turn back to the tropes of an invasion that put them in unflattering company.
The home office is crying out for levelheaded leadership, we have processing facilities like manston that are in dangerous, prison-like conditions. The simple solution is to increase staff numbers so the government can make decisions on Asylum applications. There are thousands of Asylum seekers in this country that have waited months or even years for their application to be processed. While they wait, they cannot work and receive 5 pounds a day. This can lead many to take up work in unsafe conditions out of desperation. Many of the people who are waiting have experienced the horrors of torture and war. Instead of focusing on this, Suella Braverman will continue to work on the Rwanda plan. A plan that ignores our moral responsibility and continues to hemorrhage money out of the home office.
The rhetoric and no action approach are not only unhelpful but dangerous as demonstrated by this week in politics. We saw the firebombing of a detention center in dover. The police say the terrorist was motivated by an extreme right-wing ideology. The attack should have been a moment of reflection for those using inflammatory language around the asylum debate. Unfortunately, the very next day Suella Braverman described small boat crossings as an ‘invasion’.
On his first day in office, Rishi Sunak spoke of a desire to ‘have integrity, professionalism and accountability at every level.’ But the appointment of Suella Braverman seemed to blow that out the window. Just 6 days before her reappointment she had resigned from the Truss government for breaking ministerial code. Suella Braverman backed Rishi Sunak in the latest leadership race, an important endorsement to win over the right of the party. To many this seemed that Sunak was willing to put his leadership bid above the ethics of his government. Questions of Rishi Sunak’s ethics do not seem to be going away and Gavin Williamson’s appointment and resignation.
The appointment makes one thing clear; a Sunak government isn’t a change from past conservative governments but rather a continuation of the blame game.