Suella Braverman quizzed on Gary Lineker’s comments
Suella Braverman has lashed out against left-wingers who want to tarnish Brexiteers and people with legitimate concerns on the impact of mass migration as “far right”. The Home Secretary warned that it was “a losing technique” for the left as she opened up on her political and personal life with the BBC’s Nick Robinson on his weekly podcast.
The Home Secretary has been in the eye of a political storm this week as she introduced the long-awaited Illegal Immigration Bill.
While being praised by Conservative MPs, the Home Secretary has seen herself facing an onslaught from the left, particularly Labour MPs and celebrities like Gary Lineker who compared her rhetoric to 1930s Germany.
Asked by Mr Robinson if there was something in her “that likes the fight”, Ms Braverman responded: “That’s not by design.”
Mr Robinson hit back: “When you read that word ‘invasion’ in the House of Commons you are not telling me that you didn’t pull out the pin on the hand grenade knowing that the Labour Party would go mental.”
But she said: “I don’t control how critics might respond to me.
“Ever since I started my political career I have aimed to work collaboratively with other people.”
Leftwingers have targetted the daughter of immigrants this week (Image: Getty)
But she added: “I have always seen my role as being honest, standing up and telling the truth to the British people for the British people.
“I appreciate that honesty may make some people uncomfortable, but I am not going to shy away from telling the truth.”
Asked about the left-wing’s portrayal of her as “Cruella”, Ms Braverman chuckled.
“Well if you were to ask my family and friends, I don’t think Cruella would be a term they would all use.
“I am a bit of a softy when it comes to my children, my family and friends.
“But I am not in this job to be liked. Making difficult decisions is not going to please everybody all of the time.
“Doing the right thing is sometimes going to be difficult but that doesn’t mean you don’t do the right thing.”
Suella Braverman insists she is really a bit of a softy (Image: Getty)
She admitted that when she goes out to work “there is an element” of her “putting her armour on”.
She said: “The way I have seen it, people are going to get upset and react in sometimes a very pronounced way.
“That’s not a reason to shy away from doing the things which are necessary and the brickbats and the personal abuse and the backlash, I am pretty steely and determined.
“I think I have got the mettle to withstand it.”
Ms Braverman talked fondly about her parents with her father coming to the UK in 1968 after fleeing persecution in Kenya.
Her mother, a nurse who was an admirer of Margaret Thatcher and joined the Conservatives in the 1980s, came to the UK from Mauritius.
Nick Robinson interviews Ms Braverman on his podcast (Image: Getty)
Ms Braverman said she could feel herself “welling up” when Robinson read back her account of her father’s arrival in the UK “on a cold February morning clutching his most precious possession- a British passport”.
But she insisted that the language she uses now is not like that used by the Conservative politician about immigration in the same year as her father’s arrival.
She admitted that things were tough for her father in 1960s 1970s London, describing how he was once chased down the road by skinheads.
“It’s fair to say we have come a long way as a country,” she added.
But on the use of language, she added: “It reminds me of the Brexit debate. What I see as the left, they resort to taking our position as being far-right and racist in a lazy way.
“We are seeing a rerun as Brexit. Brexit supporters were accused of being racist, bigoted and extremist. It’s a losing technique.”
Gary Lineker has been suspended over his social media comments (Image: Getty)
Ms Braverman also insted that she was not being racist to point out the problems with mass immigration.
“I don’t think I have said anything is untrue.
“It’s not racist to say that thousands of people entering the country puts pressure on our housing supply.
“It’s not racist to say that the breaching of our laws every day.”
She also describes herself as “fiercely patriotic” and expressed her fury with cancel culture describing how her family had a picture of thr Queen on the wall.
“I deeply and profoundly admire what Britain has done for the world over centuries.
“I do feel very sad when people want to cancel our history and cancel the good that Britain did.”
She also insited that she had “never experienced racism” in the UK.
