A day is a long time in politics. Just 24 hours ago, the husband of former Tory Home Secretary Suella Braverman was a signed-up member of Reform UK. This morning, however, Rael Braverman announced that he has left Nigel Farage’s party – ‘effective immediately’. Life comes at you fast, eh?
It comes after the party hit out at Suella on Tuesday following the revelation that a Ministry of Defence leak in 2022 had endangered the lives of thousands of Afghans, resulted in launch of top secret Operation Rubric and cost the taxpayer over £7bn. Taking aim at the former Conservative government, Reform UK’s ex-chairman and current head of DOGE Zia Yusuf was quick to point the finger on Twitter.
‘The British government learnt of the data leak in August 2023,’ Yusuf told his Twitter followers on Tuesday. He went on:
24,000 Afghans secretly granted asylum, costing British taxpayers up to £7bn. The government covered it up. Who was in government? Home Secretary: Suella Braverman. Immigration minister: Robert Jenrick.
Shots fired! Yusuf later reposted a tweet from this morning that read: ’22 hours since Suella’s last post.’ He then separately tweeted 15 minutes later: ‘Sometimes silence speaks loudest of all.’ There’s no love lost there, eh? It had been rumoured that the former Tory Cabinet Secretary could be the next high-profile defector to Reform – but after this morning’s developments, Mr S reckons it is safe to assume that is off the table now…
A senior Reform source told Steerpike about it all: ‘We will continue to shine a light on the dire record of the Tories in government. If someone has failed in government, we are not afraid to call it out.’ It’s true that while Farage’s group may have lost a rather vocal member, they have brought about a timely reminder of the Tories’ past record in government…
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