London
CNN
–
Les Truss An inauspicious period as prime minister plunged into more chaos on Wednesday when Soyla Braverman, the home secretary, resigned seven weeks from her role over the use of a personal email address that violated cabinet rules.
Braverman said she “sent an official document from my personal email to a fellow parliamentarian trusted as a party involved in politics.”
“This is a technical violation of the rules,” she wrote in a resignation letter, which was also scathing for Truss’ leadership and pointed to deep cracks in the heart of her government.
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“I have concerns about the direction of this government,” Braverman said. “Not only have we violated the major pledges we made to our neighbours, but I have serious concerns about this government’s commitment to honoring the commitments of the manifesto.”
Truss accepted Braverman’s resignation, saying in a letter that “it is important that ministerial law is upheld, and that Cabinet secrecy is respected.”
Grant Shapps has been named as Braverman’s replacement at the Home Office, Downing Street tweeted on Wednesday.
The deputy was transportation minister under former Prime Minister Boris Johnson, and earlier this week, during an audio recording with comedian Matt Fordy, said Truss had “Mount Everest to climb” to stay in power, according to PA Media.
“What you need is like a needle’s eye thread with the lights out,” Shapps said.
Braverman’s departure comes amid increasing pressure on the embattled leader, who has been spectacularly derailed in Downing Street due to Radical financial agenda which Truss had to abandon and apologize for.
This comes five days after Truss sacked his adviser Kwasi Quarting over the mini-budget, which led to a collapse in the value of the pound, and forced the Bank of England to intervene to calm the markets.
And it will lead to more British government turnover. Truss will soon appoint a third UK Home Secretary in eight weeks, to accompany the fourth chancellor in four months.
Several Conservative British lawmakers told CNN they had “reservations” that Braverman’s reason for resigning was limited to what she made clear in her letter – sending a draft ministerial statement from her personal email – and questioned it was a crime of resignation.
One lawmaker called the official version of events “nonsense,” and another called it “extremely unusual, if true.”
Braverman competed in the Conservative leadership campaign over the summer, which Truss eventually won. Braverman, a rising star in the party’s right wing, has repeatedly pledged to curb illegal immigration to Britain, often raising themes of the culture war.
On Tuesday while discussing a public order bill in Parliament, “Guardian reading, my kerati eat tofu” was criticized for leading the climate protests that have closed British roads in recent months.
Meanwhile, Truss is in serious danger of becoming Britain’s shortest-ever leader, with some of her MPs calling for her to resign and opinion polls suggesting her Conservative Party is wiped out in the election.
On Wednesday, the new Home Secretary told reporters he was ready to work on providing security for the British people despite the British government’s “turbulent time”.
“I agree that the government has clearly gone through a very difficult period,” Shapps said, adding that the new British chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, had done a “marvelous job in settling the issues around this mini-budget”.
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