Suella Braverman’s “divisive rightwing politics” make her unsuitable to lead the Conservative party, Ben Houchen, the Tory Tees Valley mayor, has said, amid a backlash after the former home secretary said her party had been too liberal.
A series of other Conservative figures attacked Braverman after she used a speech in the US to describe the Progress Pride flag as a “monstrous thing”, saying she was angered when it was flown over the Home Office against her will.“Our problem is us,” she told the National Conservatism conference in Washington DC. “Our problem is that the liberal Conservatives who trashed the Tory party think it was everyone’s fault but their own. My party governed as liberals and we were defeated as liberals. But seemingly, as ever, it is Conservatives who are to blame.”
She added: “What the Progress flag says to me is one monstrous thing: that I was a member of a government that presided over the mutilation of children in our hospitals and from our schools.”
Her comments appear to be an allusion to the prescribing of puberty blockers or to other medical procedures undergone by some people as they transition, though most are not available for children. » | Jessica Elgot and Peter Walker | Tuesday, July 9, 2024
