London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Wednesday, Aug 05, 2026

Rishi Sunak defends return of home secretary sacked just a week ago

Rishi Sunak defends return of home secretary sacked just a week ago

Suella Braverman’s reinstatement comes after ‘error of judgment,’ says new PM — as he drops clear hint on fracking policy shift.

Rishi Sunak defended his “unity Cabinet” on Wednesday after coming under fire for reinstating Suella Braverman as the U.K.’s home secretary days after she was forced to resign over a breach of government ethics rules.

Opposition leader Keir Starmer said the post should be held by someone whose “integrity and professionalism are beyond question,” and accused Sunak of doing “a grubby deal trading national security because he was scared to lose another leadership election.”

Braverman, a leading Tory Euroskeptic, was forced to resign from Liz Truss’ Cabinet only last week over her decision to send an unpublished, official Home Office document to a backbench MP — a national security breach of the ministerial code which is meant to police government behavior.

Her endorsement of Sunak in the Tory leadership race over the weekend was seen as crucial in driving momentum behind the new prime minister’s campaign.

Speaking during his first outing in the House of Commons since becoming prime minister, Sunak said Braverman had “made an error of judgment” but said she had “accepted her mistake.” He said he had been delighted to welcome her back into “a united Cabinet that brings experience and stability to the heart of government.”

During a lively first prime minister’s question time, Starmer quipped that the only time Sunak had run in a competitive election he had been “trounced by the former prime minister, who herself got beaten by a lettuce” — a reference to the tabloid stunt which saw Truss’ political survival pitted against the shelf-life of the salad item.

Sunak told MPs he was the “first to admit that mistakes were made” during Truss’ brief tenure and dropped a clear hint that a controversial part of her brief time in office could be junked.

Asked if he would reverse the green light given by the former prime minister to fracking — a method of extracting shale gas disparaged by environmentalists — Sunak told Green MP Caroline Lucas: “I stand by the manifesto on that.” The 2019 Conservative election manifesto said the party would not “support fracking unless the science shows categorically that it can be done safely.”

There was one moment of cross-party unity in the knockabout session: Starmer said Sunak’s appointment as Britain’s first Asian prime minister was “a significant moment in our national story.”

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Spain and Morocco Trade Blame After 72,000 Migrants Enter Ceuta
Met Police Investigated Journalist Who Questioned Cambridge Professor
Badenoch Defends Tory Candidate Jailed for Antisemitic Abuse of Luciana Berger
NHS Spends £240m a Year Storing Paper Records Despite Digital Push
Apple Seeks Court Order to Stop OpenAI Using Alleged Trade Secrets
Breaking With the Past: One of the World’s Smallest Countries Changes Its Name
AI Is Remaking the US Economy, From GDP Growth to iPhone Prices
Comcast: Tied to a Chair and Hit in the Face With Cake: The Regular Humiliation Ritual at the US Corporate Giant
Aston Martin Faces Legal Threat Over £550m Rescue Deal
Conservative Party and Reform UK Face Growing Scrutiny Over Political Transparency
GMB and Public Sector Unions Prepare for Wider Debate Over Government Priorities
UK Government Faces Pressure to Address National Water Infrastructure Failures
NHS Radiographers Report Rising Racist Abuse From Patients
Breast Cancer Experts Call for Overhaul of NHS Diagnostic Approach
UK Government Reviews Prison Policy After Debate Over Capacity and Public Safety
Nigel Farage Faces Questions Over Leadership Discussions and Five Million Pound Donation
Conservative Party Faces Candidate Controversy Over Former Antisemitic Activist
UK Energy Industry Pushes for Greater Role for Domestic Oil and Gas Production
Gatwick Expansion Debate Continues as Airport Prepares for Second Runway Construction
Reform UK Wants the Royal Navy to Return Channel Boats to France
Government Faces Pressure Over Charity Funding Linked to Illegal Israeli Settlements
UK Fire Chiefs Demand Ban on Disposable Barbecues During Severe Drought
Medical Review Warns Current Breast Cancer Guidelines Miss Many Young Women
NHS Mental Health Trust Announces Twenty-Five Million Pound Service Cuts
MI6 Rated Europe’s Most Capable Foreign Intelligence Service in International Review
UK Watchdog Finds Serious Failures in Electronic Offender Monitoring System
BP Chief Warns UK Must Protect Domestic Oil and Gas Capacity
Water Supply Crisis Threatens England’s Housing Expansion Plans
UK Government Rewrites Procurement Rules to Prioritise Jobs Over Environmental Targets
English Channel Rescue Operation Saves One Hundred Seventy-Three Migrants After Boat Capsizes
Gatwick Airport Wins Legal Approval for Second Runway Expansion
UK Government Tightens Early Prison Release Scheme After Public Backlash Over Offender Freedoms
US and Japan Step In to Support the Yen in Rare Joint Intervention
The AI Pricing Problem: Companies Cannot Predict Their Own Bills
Europe’s Heat and Drought Are Now Disrupting Power, Shipping and Tourism
Apple’s OpenAI Lawsuit Becomes a Public Fight Over AI Hardware
UK Man Jailed After Keeping His Mother’s Body in a Freezer and Claiming £78,000
A SpaceX Rocket Is About to Crash Into the Moon — and Scientists Hope to Watch
World War II munitions discovered after wildfires in southern France
BP profits reach four-year high amid Middle East conflict
Europe’s Drying Rivers Trigger Power Cuts, Factory Shutdowns and Wildfire Emergencies
UK Driver Sentenced to Four Years for Staged Electric Vehicle Brake Failure Fraud
Conservative Party and Reform UK Face Scrutiny During Clacton By-Election Campaign
Ministry of Justice Reviews Early Release Rules After Public Anger Over Police Killer Cases
NHS Radiographers Report Rising Racist Abuse From Patients Across UK Hospitals
UK Banking Regulators Face Pressure After Customer Loses Fourteen Thousand Pounds in AI Voice Scam
Research Challenges Treasury Control Over UK Public Spending and Calls for Greater Local Decision-Making
Home Office Begins Four-Week Weapons Surrender Campaign Across Major English Cities
Southern England Records Driest July in Nearly Two Centuries as Drought Concerns Grow
Apple Challenges UK Government Request for Access to Encrypted User Data in Legal Fight
×