Braverman accuses Sunak of 'betrayal' in brutal parting shot

Sacked home secretary attacks weak’ PM and warns of Tory rebellion

- Pippa Crerar , Rajeev Syal

Suella Braverman launched an astonishing personal attack on Rishi Sunak yesterday, describing him as weak and dishonest and claiming he had reneged on promises to push through a series of controversial policy pledges.

In a brutal three -page letter published a day after she was sacked as home secretary, Braverman warned the prime minister that she now intended to spearhead a Tory rebellion over the Rwanda plan.

“Someone needs to be honest: your plan is not working,” she wrote. “We have endured record election defeats, your resets have failed and we are running out of time. You need to change course urgently.”

Dozens of Conservative MPs are poised to demand that the government quit Europe’s human rights convention – a move resisted by senior cabinet ministers – if the UK’s highest court ruled against sending asylum seekers to Rwanda today.

Home Office insiders told the Guardian that the government had no “ plan B ” in the event of losing in the supreme court, suggesting ministers were “panicked” over the potential outcome. They said it was highly unlikely flights to Rwanda would be able to take off before February even if they won.

In her letter, Braverman said that Sunak had failed to prepare a credible back-up plan and had ignored her suggestion - believed to be emergency legislation to change domestic law so that the government could ignore the ruling and the flights could go ahead.

"I can only surmise that this is because you have no appetite for doing what is necessary, and therefore no real intention of fulfilling your pledge to the British people," she added.