Much like Johnson, Sunak will sacrifice his integrity to achieve his ambitions

Suella Braverman is causing a hell of a headache for Rishi Sunak. In a significant development last night, former Tory Party chair Jake Berry accused the Home Secretary of “multiple breaches” of the ministerial code and cast doubt on Braverman and the Prime Minister’s claims that she had owned up to the specific data breach that led to her resignation last week. Berry told TalkTV: “As I understand it, the evidence was put to her and she accepted the evidence rather than the other way round.” On the broadcast round this morning, David Lammy declared that Braverman should be sacked and reiterated Labour’s call for a full investigation into her conduct. “A Home Secretary making decisions about terrorism isn’t allowed to make mistakes,” the Shadow Foreign Secretary stressed.

In a letter to Cabinet Secretary Simon Case on Wednesday, Yvette Cooper demanded that an investigation into Braverman be “urgently undertaken”. The Shadow Home Secretary said it is “vital for the public to have transparency” on the incident that led to Braverman’s resignation, arguing that “there are a series of important questions which remain unanswered”. The opposition secured an urgent question on the issue yesterday afternoon, during which Cooper declared that Sunak’s decision to reappointment Braverman six days after her resignation is the “same old Tory chaos”. The Labour frontbencher accused the Prime Minister of making a “grubby deal” to ensure his victory in the Tory leadership contest. Braverman backed Sunak for the leadership the day before the deadline for endorsements – in a significant blow to rival Boris Johnson, of whom she had previously been a staunch supporter.

Keir Starmer began his first Prime Minister’s Questions against his new opponent with a series of questions about Braverman, pointing out the hypocrisy of Sunak’s decision to reappoint her as Home Secretary after promising to deliver “integrity, professionalism and accountability” at all levels of government. Sunak claimed Braverman had “made an error of judgement” and that she had “recognised that” and “raised the matter”. Pressed by the Labour leader on whether officials had raised concerns about Braverman’s reappointment, the Prime Minister dodged the question, claiming that he had “just addressed” the issue.

With Sunak attempting to present himself as a fresh start for the Conservative Party, Labour has been at pains to point out how the decision to reappoint Braverman represents continuity with the chaos and carelessness of his immediate predecessors. Starmer said at PMQs: “There’s a new Tory at the top, but as always, with them party first, country second.” Braverman’s reappointment shows that Sunak, like Johnson before him, is happy to sacrifice his integrity to achieve his personal ambitions.

In Labour news, the six longlisted candidates in the Sheffield Central selection process have published a joint statement calling out the “vitriolic abuse that has been directed towards candidates, including racism and transphobia”. The statement continues: “Nobody should be subjected to persistent and targeted abuse because of who they are, how they identify or their race or ethnicity.” LabourList understands that the online reception to Eddie Izzard’s candidacy was a key motivation behind the statement. Izzard, who is trans, released a statement earlier this week clarifying that she had never been offered a place on an all-women shortlist, following false claims that she is currently competing on one.