Visibly angry Rishi Sunak may have lost patience with Suella Braverman’s misjudgments
On the face of it, a Government minister being hit with a speeding fine is not exactly the great political scandal of our time.
Asking apolitical civil servants help you wriggle out of a public speed awareness course is inappropriate but, again, could be described as a mistake rather than an example of blatant corruption or sleaze.
However, for Suella Braverman, the real issue is that this displays a pattern. It shows that, again, she has exercised poor judgement – bordering on carelessness – around how she conducts herself in office.
The frustration felt by Rishi Sunak about this latest suggestion of misconduct in his cabinet was plain to see by anyone watching the G7 press conference.
Perhaps it was a combination of jet lag and days of diplomatic meetings, but the generally mild-mannered Prime Minister looked positively seething when he was asked about her conduct at G7.
He snapped at BBC Political Editor Chris Mason and demanded whether he had any “questions about the summit”, leading to an awkward frosty silence, before he refused to publicly back Ms Braverman.
Mr Sunak then allowed her to sweat it out for a day as she awaited her fate while he spent the flight back from Japan mulling over what his next steps would be. For a PM who came into office with a pledge to clean up politics, it seemed this might be one misjudgement too far.
Crucially, the row over the speeding debacle comes at a time of Cabinet tensions over what to do about rising immigration, with ministers divided over who should be allowed to come to the UK for work and education and for how long.
This week looks set to be a difficult one for Ms Braverman and Mr Sunak as data is expected to show record levels of legal migration, despite their repeated promised to reduce the number of people moving to the UK.
And, while this latest political scandal is not helpful, it will ultimately be Ms Braverman’s record of delivery in office that will either leave her vulnerable or provide her with more staying power.
If the Home Secretary is not successfully managing to get a grip on illegal crossings, and come to an agreement over the net migration strategy, then perhaps Mr Sunak will feel it is not worth the hassle of having to deal with her clumsy misdemeanours.
