UK home secretary: Rishi Sunak replaces Suella Braverman with James Cleverly

UK home secretary: Rishi Sunak replaces Suella Braverman with James Cleverly

Suella Braverman has been sacked as home secretary, after she defied No 10 over an article accusing the Met Police of bias in the policing of protests.

Mrs Braverman was accused of stoking tension in the article ahead of protests in London over the weekend.

James Cleverly has been announced as her replacement, leaving the post of foreign secretary currently vacant.

She said serving as home secretary was “the greatest privilege of my life”.

David Cameron, prompting suggestions he would be returning to government as foreign secretary.

Mr Cameron, who has been out of Parliament since he stood down as a prime minister in 2016, could be given a seat in the House of Lords to take up his new position.

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Mrs Braverman’s sacking kickstarts a major Cabinet reshuffle by Rishi Sunak as he reshapes his top team ahead of next week’s Autumn Statement.

Since her elevation to home secretary by former PM Liz Truss, Mrs Braverman has been seen as a standard bearer for the right in the Conservative party.

In a statement, Mrs Braverman said: “I will have more to say in due course”, leading to speculation she may cause trouble for the leadership.

She lost her job following days of a political firestorm sparked when she wrote an article for The Times newspaper, accusing the police applying a”double standard” and took a tougher stance with right-wing demonstrations.

The article was not cleared by No10 and it later emerged Mrs Braverman had defied a Downing Street request to tone the article down.

Labour, the Liberal Democrats and some Tory MPs had called for Suella Braverman to be sacked.

Shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper, said Mrs Braverman actions were “highly irresponsible” and inflamed tensions and making the job of the police harder.

UK home secretary: Rishi Sunak replaces Suella Braverman with James Cleverly