Suella Braverman could learn her fate TODAY as allies demand Rishi Sunak dismisses claims she asked civil servants to help dodge speeding fine
Suella Braverman could finally learn her fate today as allies demand Rishi Sunak dismisses claims she asked civil servants to help her dodge a speeding fine.
The PM is expected to decide this morning whether to order an investigation into the allegations by ethics chief Sir Laurie Magnus.
Mr Sunak has now been mulling the situation since Saturday, when the Home Secretary was accused of breaking the ministerial code by requesting aides organise a speed awareness course last year.
The suggestion was rebuffed, and many in Westminster believe that even if Ms Braverman was found to have broken a rules it would only mean a slap on the wrists.
The row is complicated by looming immigration figures tomorrow, set to show net inflows rising to between 700,000 and a million.
Suella Braverman (pictured at Cabinet yesterday) could finally learn her fate today as allies demand Rishi Sunak dismisses claims she asked civil servants to help her dodge a speeding fine
Ms Braverman has been pushing for tougher controls to bring down numbers, but other Cabinet ministers have been resisting warning that the economy needs foreign students and workers.
The Mail on Sunday revealed at the weekend that Mrs Braverman was caught speeding last summer when she was attorney general. She was given the option of taking three penalty points or doing a speed awareness course.
After becoming Home Secretary she allegedly asked officials whether they could arrange a one-to-one course to avoid publicity. Officials refused, warning it would breach the civil service code.
Mrs Braverman admitted speeding, paying a fine and taking penalty points on her driving licence, but insists she has done ‘nothing untoward’.
MPs were told the Home Secretary had been asked by No10 to provide ‘further information’ about the incident.
Some Downing Street figures are said to be frustrated by the Home Office’s failure to quickly produce a comprehensive version of events.
Labour has called for Sir Laurie to investigate, with deputy leader Angela Rayner yesterday accusing the PM of ‘dither and delay’.
But Tory MPs lined up in the Commons yesterday to defend the Home Secretary – and even some Labour figures acknowledged the row was a storm in a teacup.
Tory grandee Sir Edward Leigh said: ‘What is wrong with this country? We used to have proper scandals about sex or money, or about prime ministers invading Iraq on dodgy evidence where hundreds of thousands of people died.
‘All this moral outrage about a minister who asked her private office about something and took their advice is ludicrous. We all know what this is all about: the opposition are attacking a good Home Secretary, who is trying to attack the real scandal of mass immigration to this country.’
The PM is expected to decide this morning whether to order an investigation into the allegations by ethics chief Sir Laurie Magnus
Jacob Rees-Mogg described the row as a ‘non-story’. The former business secretary added: ‘It would be extremely unfortunate for the Prime Minister to do anything other than to move on.’
Former Tory leader Lord Hague suggested Ms Braverman should be given a ‘rap over the knuckles’, but should not lose her job.
Former minister Jonathan Gullis said the Home Secretary faced a ‘witch-hunt from the Labour Party’.
Meanwhile, ex-Labour minister Chris Mullin said: ‘I am, to put it mildly, no fan of Suella Braverman, but for the life of me I cannot get excited about this latest piece of nonsense. It is certainly not a resigning matter.’
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