Sunak faces calls to sack Suella after police bias claim 'crosses the line'

RISHI SUNAK was urged today to sack Suella Braverman after she suggested the Metropolitan Police were biased for refusing to ban a pro-Gaza march on Armistice Day.

- Nicholas Cecil and Martin Bentham 

The Home Secretary was hit with a torrent of criticism from Tory, Labour and Liberal Democrat parliamentarians over her remarks which sparked accusations that she was threatening the operational independence of the police.

Questions were being raised about her future after it was understood that No10 had asked for changes in the incendiary article that she wrote for The Times but they were not made.

As the row grew, police minister Chris Philp was summoned to the Commons to explain Ms Braverman’s comments. Shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper asked: “Does this Government still believe in the operational independence of the police, and how can it do so while this Home Secretary is in post? Because either the Prime Minister has endorsed this or he’s too weak to sack her.”

Mr Philp said there was a difference between “scrutiny” and “interference” in police decisions. “I would like to reiterate that the police retain the confidence of the Prime Minister and the Home Secretary and in using all their available powers, both under terrorism legislation and public order legislation, to prevent criminality and disorder and to prevent hate speech,” he added.

But Tory peer Lord Barwell, who was Theresa May’s chief of staff and a Croydon MP, tweeted: “I understand why Rishi Sunak appointed Suella Braverman but it was a mistake.