Suella Braverman offers 'full support' to Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch

  • Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch wins the support of Hampshire MP Suella Braverman

Former Home Secretary Suella Braverman has offered the new Conservative leader, Kemi Badenoch, her full support.

The Fareham and Waterlooville MP was once tipped as a frontrunner to take over as party leader but chose not to take part in the latest contest.

Mrs Braverman told ITV News Meridian: “Kemi’s election as our leader marks a new chapter for the Conservative Party.

“We’ve had a really difficult few years of decline, culminating in a devastating defeat at the general election. After a very rigorous process we’ve chosen a new leader and Kemi has my full support.”

The Hampshire MP was sacked as home secretary by Rishi Sunak in 2023, after being forced to leave the position a year earlier when Liz Truss was prime minister.

Kemi Badenoch called on Sir Keir Starmer to extend an invitation to Donald Trump to address Parliament. Credit: House of Commons

Mrs Braverman told the Telegraph in July that she would not be putting herself forward as Tory leader because there was no point “when most of the MPs disagree with my diagnosis and prescription”.

Kemi Badenoch beat Robert Jenrick in a final vote of Conservative party members to take over as leader of the opposition.

She appeared opposite Sir Keir Starmer in the House of Commons for the first time yesterday (6 November).

Reacting to her performance at Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQs), Mrs Braverman added: “[Kemi Badenoch] has put together a new team. They’re a great team and I thought she did very well at PMQs.”

However, other members of parliament from the South disagreed with that verdict.

  • South East MPs react to Kemi Badenoch’s first appearance in Parliament as Tory leader: Labour’s Tony Vaughan, Conservative Mims Davies and Lib Dem Layla Moran

Labour’s Tony Vauaghan, MP for Folkestone and Hythe, said there “weren’t any particular blows landed by the new leader of the opposition”, adding that “after 14 years of Tory abject failure there really wasn’t much that the Tories brought to the table”.

Lib Dem MP Layla Moran, who represents Oxford West and Abingdon, said it was an “incredible achievement” for Kemi Badenoch to be the “first black woman” in the role of leader of the opposition.

Ms Badenoch announced appointments to her shadow cabinet this week.

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