Who is Suella Braverman? The Brexit-backing Cabinet minister under fire for speeding ticket response
Home Secretary Suella Braverman is under scrutiny about claims she asked civil servants to help her to arrange a private speed awareness course to avoid points on her licence.
The prime minister is expected to speak to Ms Braverman following allegations she requested support from Home Office officials - which may have breached the ministerial code - after being caught speeding.
Rishi Sunak, who faced questions about the home secretary’s handling of her speeding ticket during his visit to Japan for the G7 leaders’ meeting, will also seek advice from his ethics adviser about how to proceed.
Ms Braverman said she was "confident that nothing untoward happened" in the handling of her speeding offence and added she regrets breaking the speed limit.
Who is Suella Braverman?
The 43-year-old Conservative was voted MP for Fareham in 2015, before being appointed as the country's top legal official by Boris Johnson in February 2020.
Sue-Ellen Braverman (Suella) is the daughter of Christie and Uma Fernandes, from Kenya and Mauritius. Her parents emigrated to Britain in the 1960s.
The MP has previously spoken about her parents, saying they "came here with absolutely nothing".
"It was Britain that gave them hope, security and opportunity and this country has afforded me incredible opportunities in education and my career, and I owe a debt of gratitude to this country."
Political Career
Suella Braverman was among the candidates vying to be the leader of the Conservative Party and prime minister following Boris Johnson's resignation in September 2022.
She previously told ITV News political editor Robert Peston that being the UK’s next prime minister would be the "greatest honour".
She confessed her ambition while the-then PM was being hit with a constant onslaught of ministerial resignations.
Peston asked Ms Braverman: "A number of your colleagues have wondered if you have thought about standing?"Ms Braverman replied: "I’ll be honest with you, Robert. Yes, I will."
However, she was eliminated from the Tory leadership race having finished last in the second round of voting.
The then Attorney General for England and Wales backed Liz Truss to become prime minister.
Ms Braverman was elected as the MP for Fareham in 2015 with 56.1% of the vote and a majority of 22,262.
She was appointed Attorney General for England and Wales on 13 February 2020.
Since being elected, she served on the education select committee, as a Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Treasury, and a Brexit minister.
In November 2018, she resigned from her role as Brexit minister, over what she described as 'the unacceptable terms of the Withdrawal Agreement'.
Ms Braverman served as Attorney General for England and Wales until 6 September 2022.
She was then appointed Secretary of State for the Home Department on 25 October 2022.
She previously held the same role between 6 September 2022 and 19 October 2022 under then Prime Minister Liz Truss.
Legal Career
Called to the bar in 2005, Ms Braverman specialised in public law and judicial review.
She has defended the Home Office in immigration cases, the Parole Board in challenges by prisoners and the Ministry of Defence in matters relating to injuries sustained in battle.
Personal life
Suella Braverman read law at Queens' College, Cambridge University.
She married Rael Braverman in February 2018 at the House of Commons.
They have two children. The couple's first child was born in 2019 and their second in 2021.
In the spotlight
The Home Secretary hit the headlines in June 2022 when she reacted to a European court decision which effectively grounded the first flight to send asylum seekers out of the UK to Rwanda.
Ms Braverman said it was "time to complete Brexit and let the British people decide who can and cannot stay in our country".
Her comments came after judges at the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) granted last-minute interim measures covering three people who had been due to be on the first flight to Rwanda.
She added: "This is still a topic being discussed in Government but I have significant reservations about our relationship with the European Court of Human Rights."
She hit the headlines again last week when she suggested the UK should train its own workforce of fruit pickers and lorry drivers rather than import foreign labour, in a speech that was expected to focus on immigration but repeatedly referenced other divisive issues.
The Home Secretary, whose speech at the National Conservatism Conference was interrupted by Extinction Rebellion protesters, said "we need to get overall immigration numbers down and we mustn’t forget how to do things for ourselves".
Ms Braverman claimed "there is no good reason why we can’t train up enough HGV drivers, butchers or fruit pickers".
"Brexit enables us to build a high-skilled, high wage economy that is less dependent on low-skilled foreign labour."
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