Suella Braverman has broken her silence after being dramatically fired as home secretary following days of mounting pressure.
The former top minister has said it had been the “greatest privilege of my life to serve as home secretary”.
In an ominous statement for Rishi Sunak, she added: “I will have more to say in due course.”
Mr Sunak had faced days of calls to sack Ms Braverman after an incendiary op-ed last Wednesday in which she attacked the police as biased toward pro-Palestine protesters.
That followed her prompting outrage by vowing a crackdown on tents used by the homeless and describing rough sleeping as a “lifestyle choice”.
Calls intensified after her condemnation of pro-Palestine demonstrations as “hate marches” was blamed for far-right thugs descending on London and disrupting Armistice Day.
Mr Sunak had held off sacking Ms Braverman despite intense pressure to do so amid fears that doing so could spark a backbench revolt.
Ms Braverman is seen as a flagbearer of the right-wing of the Conservative Party and was serially accused of using her job as home secretary to campaign for the party leadership.
Tory infighting began almost immediately after Ms Braverman’s sacking.
And minutes after it was confirmed she was leaving government, Andrea Jenkyns said she had been “sacked for speaking the truth”.
“I support Suella Braverman … sacked for speaking the truth. Bad call by Rishi caving in to the left,” the right-winger who represents Morely and Outwood said on X, formerly Twitter.
Former Tory MEP David Campbell Bannerman said getting rid of Ms Braverman would be a “kamikaze” move.
Mr Campbell Bannerman, chairman of the grassroots Conservative Democratic Organisation, told The Independent: “If Sunak gets rid of Suella he might as well put in 54 no confidence letters in himself.”
However, several senior Tories called publicly for Ms Braverman to quit or be sacked, while privately MPs branded Mr Sunak “disgraceful” for keeping her in post.
James Cleverly has been moved from the foreign office to replace Ms Braverman as home secretary, Downing Street confirmed.
And, in an extraordinary development, former prime minister David Cameron has been named foreign secretary to replace Mr Cleverly.
The move will see the Tory grandee – who occupied No 10 between 2010 and 2016 – enter the Lords so he can take up one of the top jobs in government.
The Conservatives said Mr Sunak is carrying out a wider reshuffle which “strengthens his team in government to deliver long-term decisions for a brighter future”.
Ms Braverman’s sacking on Monday was the second time she had been forced out as home secretary in the past year.
Last October she was forced to resign over a security breach amid the chaos of the final hours of the Liz Truss government.
But she was reappointed by Mr Sunak just six days later in his most controversial cabinet appointment.
