As Indian-origin Suella Braverman quits as UK Home Secretary, a look at her controversial statements

Indian-origin Tory MP Suella Braverman has resigned as the UK Home Secretary after a short but turbulent tenure. Braverman made headlines for all the wrong reasons in the past few weeks, offending people in her own party, country and even India.

Why did Braverman resign? The official statement was that Braverman was in breach of security when she shared a confidential dossier on immigration policy with another MP via her personal email. 

My letter to the Prime Minister. pic.twitter.com/TaWO1PMOF2

— Suella Braverman MP (@SuellaBraverman) October 19, 2022

• However, reports say that Liz Truss sacked Braverman over the MP's consistently contradictory stance to the government's ideas. 
• Reportedly, a minister using his/her personal email or phone line to communicate official and sometimes confidential information is very common. And while it is technically a breach of the rules, it is a very small issue to fire someone for. 

The resignation letter: True to Braverman's colourful tongue, the words in her resignation were no different:

During her 43 days tenure, the shortest for the post since 1834, Suella Braverman made headlines for all the wrong reasons. 

We compiled a list of outrageous comments made by Suella Braverman:

1. Braverman's claims about Indian migrants overstaying their visas got on the nerves of the Indian government. Her remarks came at a time when UK and India were trying to get a trade deal signed by the Diwali deadline. 

[Read more about the trade deal and Braverman's India comments here.]

2. Suella Braverman's most controversial and insensitive remarks about Rwandan refugees refuse to die down. At a Conservative Party conference, she said it was her "obsession" to see refugees on a plane to Rwanda. 

3. When speaking about raising welfare benefits in line with inflation, Braverman was described as "sitting on the fence" and mocked that Britain has adopted a benefits street culture. 

4. She also voiced her opinion on limiting the number of student visas issued; something that elicited a quick rebuke from university bosses. 

5. Then, her recent "Guardian-reading, tofu-eating" comments targetted at political opponents elicited laughs from all sides of the political line with some in her own party left wondering what she was going on about. 

Braverman was referencing the Just Stop Oil campaigners who recently threw soup at paintings, spilled milk on the floor in convenience stores, etc to highlight environmental concerns. 

These are only the very few questionable remarks made by the Indian-origin British MP. She is also famous for saying that she is proud of the British empire.  

Suella Braverman's exit also exposes the chaos in Liz Truss's government. Braverman's exit came just weeks after Truss fired Kwasi Kwarteng as the Chancellor. Rumours say that Truss herself may be forced to resign too. 

But for now, Grant Shapps has replaced Suella Braverman. Shapps is also not without controversy. But the bigger concern is that Shapps and Jeremy Hunt, who replaced Kwarteng, both had supported Rishi Sunak in the Prime Ministerial race.