Suella Braverman, the former Attorney General, and now the UK Home Secretary, was apprehended for speeding in a 50mph zone last summer. She was offered the choice of paying a fine, and deduction of points on her license, or taking a speed awareness course. Braverman has been accused of asking civil servants to assist her to organize a one-on-one course in order to escape the discomfort of being recognized by fellow offenders.
When she was refused her request, a political adviser allegedly weighed in to assist investigating options such as, Braverman completing the course online without exposing who she was, but she ultimately chose to pay the fine. According to a government source, her conduct did not violate the ministerial code.
Investigations are being set to be initiated against the Home Secretary, purposely not for the speeding offense, but her actions in attempting to arrange a one-on-one awareness course.
Angela Rayner, the deputy Labour Party Leader said, the Prime Minister has to direct his adviser to look into whether regulations were broken “immediately.” The Liberal Democrats have also called for an inquiry and asked Prime Minister Sunak to address the Parliament, regarding allegations against Secretary Braverman.
Meanwhile, Mrs Braverman has been scheduled to appear in the Commons on Monday afternoon to answer concerns about the Home Office.
“Members of the cabinet are subject to the same laws as the rest of us, and any attempt to direct civil servants to obtain special treatment in this matter would clearly amount to an unacceptable abuse of power and privilege by the home secretary,” Angela Rayner said this, in a letter she wrote to Rishi Sunak.
Also, Ms. Rayner said in a statement that, Rishi Sunak has to “show some backbone” and ordered Sir Laurie Magnus, the independent adviser on ministerial interest, to “get into the bottom of this episode.”
However, Sir Laurie Magnus will wait for the Prime Minister to return from Japan, and have talks with him, before any further actions, would be taken concerning allegations levelled against Suella Braverman.
Ministerial Codes Of Conduct
The ministerial code establishes norms of behaviour for ministers, particularly the requirement that they maintain the civil service’s political neutrality. Former senior civil servant Sir Philip Rycroft claimed that, Mrs Braverman’s alleged conduct seemed to be a “real lapse of judgement.”
“Obviously, there’s still investigations to be done and so on but the code is very clear. Ministers must ensure that no conflict arises or appears to arise between their public duties and their private interests,” Rycroft said. “Even asking a question of a civil servant as to how she might go on one of these courses puts them in an impossible position,” he explained.
Mr Sunak allegedly had no idea of the incident until it was published in some news journals. When pressed at the G7 conference, he refrained to say if an inquiry into the matter would be set up on the matter. He also refused to declare whether he supported Mrs Braverman at a press briefing, although information at Downing Street indicated that “of course” he did.
“I don’t know the full details of what has happened, nor have I spoken to the home secretary,” Mr. Sunak averred. “But I understand she has expressed regret for speeding, accepted the penalty and paid the fine,” the Prime Minister added.
Mrs. Braverman was promoted to home secretary under Liz Truss, after she served as Attorney General from February 2020 to September 2022. However, Braverman stepped down from her office on October 19, after tendering in an official resignation letter to a backbench MP. Braverman was reassigned to the same office by Mr Sunak six days later, following the collapse of the Truss government.
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