A year ago almost to the day, 27 migrants drowned in the English Channel while crossing to England. This week, on November 14, British Interior Minister Suella Braverman came to Paris to sign a new surveillance agreement on the French coasts with her counterpart. She had just been reappointed to this position by Rishi Sunak after a resignation for misconduct and outrageous remarks. Portrait.
Anchored on the far right of the Conservative Party, Suella Braverman does not bother to hold back when she talks about subjects that are close to her heart, such as the fight against immigration. ” I would love to see a photo on the front page of the Telegraph of a plane taking off for Rwanda. This is my dream ! My obsession ! claimed the 42-year-old former lawyer on the sidelines of a Tory conference in early October. The new Minister of the Interior ardently supports the agreement signed by his predecessor Priti Patel with Kigali. Worth 120 million pounds (144 million euros), it would allow the British authorities to send visa-free migrants and asylum seekers who have arrived in the United Kingdom to Rwanda. Invalidated by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), it did not materialize.
Other words from Suella Braverman sparked a diplomatic mini-crisis with Albania: the minister had branded Albanian migrants as criminals in organized gangs. Prime Minister Edi Rama in turn accused her of fueling xenophobia to cover up political failures.
So many words and positions that worry humanitarian associations as London and Paris have just signed a new border cooperation agreement, a few days before the commemoration of the sinking of November 24, 2021, which occurred in a context of strong tensions between the two capitals. The founder of Care4Calais recalls that Suella Braverman referred to a “ invasion to fightwhen speaking of migrants. “We know that this bashing does not reflect the general opinion says Clare Moseley.And it is very disappointing to hear the government making comments that sow hatred and division in the country. This is not good for society, and we are very disappointed with this approach. Suella Braverman has said publicly that in her opinion the people who are in Calais are not in need of protection, our experience shows the opposite. She is very supportive of the Rwanda project. We are not very optimistic for the future.»
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If the associations denounce the signing of this new agreement with France to strengthen coastal surveillance, they are not the only ones. Critics also come from the Conservative Party. Torie MP for Kent Nathalie Elphicke judges that the text will not have the desired effect. The Minister herself, in response to a question from another Conservative MP, acknowledged that “in itself this agreement [n’allait] not solve the problem“. “Sold as a big step forward, this text is only the latest in a long series of agreements concluded between London and Paris. In this sense, the criticisms are justified and understandable.says Simon Usherwood, a professor at the Open University in north London, because there are other pressing issues to address. “What is striking is that Suella Braverman has devoted much more effort to this text than to trying to solve the problem of delays in processing asylum applications, which seem to be the real bottleneck in the system. She is more interested in what is visible, what will appeal to voters, than in having the best possible impact on public policy and the best results.“.
Justice in question
Fervent apostle of Brexit, Suella Braverman led the group of elected Eurosceptics ERG in 2015. She was one of thehard brexiters“: Under-Secretary of State for Brexit in early 2018, she slammed the door on November 15 when the draft withdrawal agreement negotiated by Theresa May was published. Today, she wants the UK to leave the European Court of Human Rights.
A law graduate from the universities of Cambridge and the Sorbonne, the minister also challenges the power of judges in her own country. Like Boris Johnson, she denounces the process of “judicial review”, equivalent to the judicial control provided in France in the last instance by the Council of State. Aurélien Antoine, professor of public law at Jean Monnet Saint-Etienne University, remembers: “When she started to rise, she supported a government that was very restrictive both in terms of migration policy and in terms of recourse to the courts – that is to say in terms of the rule of law, quite simply“. The appointment of Suella Braverman as Attorney General by Boris Johnson in 2020 had also caused controversy within the judiciary. According to Aurélien Antoine, this positioning confirms an evolution of the conservative party: there is “crystallization of an extreme right, of a right fringe of the conservative party for a few years. And Suella Braverman is more in line with this line, which clearly emerged from 2016, even if there were of course already latent elements of this orientation.»
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Minister under supervision
Coming from a family of Indian origin, Sue-Ellen for civil status, has been involved in politics since university. She presented herself for the first time in front of the voters at 25 years old. But she suffered several failures before being elected MP for Fareham, a very conservative constituency in the south of England in 2015 then 2017. In addition to her outspokenness, she is known for her perseverance, but also for an opportunist leaning according to many analysts. “He really is a political animalbelieves Simon Usherwood,she knows very well that her position is to attract light and make a name for herself. “Law and Order“Law and order is a fundamental of conservatives. I’m not sure it’s a passion for her, but for now it’s very useful to her. In fact, she gives the impression of ‘have our eyes on 10 Downing Street, and I think it’s interesting to look at his action from that perspective“.
However, even if Suella Braverman does not lack support on the right of the party, she “is not the first choice of conservativesto the post of Prime Minister specifies the researcher. “It is now at an intermediate stage. This is why having increasing visibility is important to her. This will help him in his campaign in the next leadership challenge.“. But until then, the Minister of the Interior will also have to discipline her actions. His appointment by Rishi Sunak on October 25 surprised. A week earlier, she had been forced out of the previous government for violating departmental security rules. Suella Braverman admitted to using her personal email address to send official documents six times, including a draft ministerial statement on migration policy.
Upon her resignation, the minister had accelerated the fall of Liz Truss by expressing her “serious concernsabout the Prime Minister’s policy. Whether in the ranks of the opposition or those of the majority, the noisy actions of Suella Braverman will be followed closely.
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