Pin It
GettyImages-1704741651
Photo by Oli Scarff / AFP via Getty Images

Suella Braverman: a running list of the worst things she’s said and done

Life & CultureLists

From arguing that homelessness is a lifestyle choice to stamping on a guide dog, Braverman has made some alarming decisions during her time in politics

TextSerena Smith

Only three things are certain in life: death, taxes, and Suella Braverman saying dumb shit.

Braverman was elected as an MP in 2015 and became Attorney General in 2020, eventually weaselling her way into the Cabinet when she was appointed Home Secretary by Liz Truss. She had to resign just a few weeks after the appointment after breaching the Ministerial Code by sharing an official document over her personal email address – only to be reappointed six days later by Rishi Sunak after he became Prime Minister. 

It seems as though every day Braverman comes out and says something more harmful and cruel than the last: in the last few days alone she’s come out swinging against homeless people and pro-Palestine protestors. But she’s said plenty of other damaging things during her time in politics. Here’s a running list of all the worst things Suella Braverman has said and done.

Read More
Palestine Roblox protest
Why young people are protesting in virtual worlds
Girlfromwebsite meme
Prey mode: why girls are pretending to be cute animals
Logged On
Listen to Logged On episode two: Clout Matrix
The Pear ring
The Pear ring: will this social experiment really disrupt dating?

“HOMELESSNESS IS A LIFESTYLE CHOICE”

For some reason known only to her, Suella Braverman woke up in the comfort of her own home on Saturday 4th November and thought: “You know who needs to be brought down a few pegs? Homeless people.”

In response to a post from a Financial Times editor detailing her plans to deter charities from giving tents to homeless people, she tweeted: “The British people are compassionate. We will always support those who are genuinely homeless. But we cannot allow our streets to be taken over by rows of tents occupied by people, many of them from abroad, living on the streets as a lifestyle choice.”

Yes, because people definitely choose to sleep outside in sub-zero temperatures. People definitely choose to risk being assaulted or killed every day and night. Those pesky homeless people “from abroad” that Braverman mentions? They also chose to be on the streets – it’s not because people who do not yet have leave to remain in the UK have no recourse to public funds and can’t access state support. The 130,000 children in the UK who are currently homeless? Again, they’ve got absolutely nothing to do with austerity or the government dragging their heels when it comes to ending no-fault evictions or building more social housing. No, those children chose to have no home! It’s edgy!

…Except, obviously, nobody chooses to be homeless, and Braverman’s comments are both cruel and stupid.

WHEN SHE CALLED PRO-PALESTINE MARCHES “HATE MARCHES”

Braverman recently spoke to Sky News about the pro-Palestine protests that have taken place since violence broke out in the Middle East at the start of October. “We have seen, over the last few weekends, tens of thousands of people take to the streets following the massacre of Jewish people, the single largest loss of Jewish life since the Holocaust, chanting for the erasure of Israel from the map,” the Home Secretary said. “To my mind, there is only one way to describe those marches – they are hate marches.”

It’s unclear how marches which are calling for an end to the killing of innocent civilians could possibly be interpreted as hateful – unless Braverman is conflating anti-Zionism with anti-Semitism, which is both wrong and dangerous.

“MULTICULTURALISM HAS FAILED”

Oh dear. Braverman went full Enoch Powell back in September 2023 when she said during a speech in Washington that multiculturalism has failed. And no, unfortunately this wasn’t a critique of the way ‘multiculturalism’ as an ideology ignores the lived realities of immigrants (à la Zadie Smith). Instead, Braverman called multiculturalism a “misguided dogma” which was threatening British society. “Multiculturalism makes no demands of the incomer to integrate,” she said. “It has failed because it allowed people to come to our society and live parallel lives in it.”

This was particularly weird given that Braverman has both Kenyan and Mauritian heritage (and is currently serving under the first ever British Asian Prime Minister). She must really hate herself!

“I WOULD LOVE TO HAVE A FRONT PAGE OF THE TELEGRAPH WITH A PLANE TAKING OFF TO RWANDA. THAT’S MY DREAM, IT’S MY OBSESSION”

Most people’s dreams usually involve starting a family, owning a house, making great art, being able to give back to society in some way… that kind of thing. Not Suella though! Her dream – her “obsession” – is to deport some of the most vulnerable, desperate people in the world to Rwanda and bag a Telegraph splash.

WHEN SHE STOOD ON A DOG

A guide dog, no less! I wish it bit her.

SAYING BEING A WOMEN OR GAY SHOULDN’T BE ENOUGH FOR PEOPLE TO SEEK ASYLUM IN THE UK

During a speech in the US in September 2023, Braverman said: “Let me be clear, there are vast swathes of the world where it is extremely difficult to be gay, or to be a woman. Where individuals are being persecuted, it is right that we offer sanctuary. But we will not be able to sustain an asylum system if in effect simply being gay, or a woman, and fearful of discrimination in your country of origin is sufficient to qualify for protection.” She added that in “many instances” asylum seekers pretend to be gay to enter the UK.

Being gay is punishable by death in 11 countries and LGBTQ+ people are criminalised in a further 53. Rosalind Duignan-Pearson, a spokesperson for LGBTQ+ asylum charity Micro Rainbow, called Braverman’s comments “another deliberate ploy to sow further mistrust of LGBTQ+ refugees and asylum seekers”.

“IT’S THE COALITION OF CHAOS, IT’S THE GUARDIAN-READING, TOFU-EATING WOKERATI”

You can get tofu from Aldi for 99p. Just a really embarrassing thing to say. 

(NB: if you ever put or still have ‘tofu-eating wokerati’ in your Twitter bio that is just as embarrassing.)

“SENIOR POLICE OFFICERS PLAY FAVOURITES WHEN IT COMES TO PROTESTORS”

This is major! Finally Braverman is calling out the fact that police brutality disproportionately impacts Black people, Asian people, and ethnic minorities! At last, some acknowledgement that the Met police is misogynistic and homophobic! What’s that? The Braverman thinks the police’s “favourites” are actually Black Lives Matter and pro-Palestine protestors? Right: so, according to Suella Braverman, the Met Police has gone woke.

WHEN SHE SAID SHE WAS PROUD OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE

Back in October 2022, Braverman said she was “proud” of the Empire and has also claimed that her parents, who came from Mauritius and Kenya, arrived in the UK “with an admiration and gratitude” for what Britain did for its former colonies. But what exactly did Britain do for Braverman’s ancestors?

The British brought indentured labourers, mainly from India, to work on Mauritius’ sugar cane fields, in the hope that the system would provide cheap labour similar to the conditions under slavery. Abuse was rife: wages (which were pitiful anyway) were not paid regularly and could be cut as punishment, while labour contracts were often unfairly extended.

While India was under the control of the British Empire, between 12 and 29 million Indians died of starvation; precious artefacts were stolen and resources extracted from the country; and between 379 and 1,500 protestors were killed by British forces during the Amritsar massacre. As for the ‘railways’ that colonialists always bang on about, in reality, the railways were funded entirely by Indian taxpayers while British shareholders made generous profits.

In Kenya, the British brutally repressed anti-colonial forces and locked up thousands of the Kikuyu population in detention camps. In these camps, prisoners were tortured, abused, and, in some cases, murdered. It’s estimated that between 20,000 and 100,000 Kikuyu people died in these camps.

So, no, personally, the British Empire isn’t something I would be proud of.

Join Dazed Club and be part of our world! You get exclusive access to events, parties, festivals and our editors, as well as a free subscription to Dazed for a year. Join for £5/month today.

Life & CultureListsConservativesSuella BravermanRishi Sunak