Home secretary Suella Braverman has warned that Britain faces a “hurricane” of migrants as she dialled up her anti-immigration rhetoric in a bid to appeal to the Tory faithful.
The cabinet minister made a fiery speech at the Conservative conference in Manchester, as she vowed to shut hotels used by asylum seekers and claimed Labour would “open the borders”.
In an address sure to provoke outrage, the Tory right-winger said there was a “surge” of “millions” of migrants around the world trying to come to the UK.
“The wind of change that carried my own parents across the globe in the 20th century was a mere gust compared to the hurricane that is coming,” Ms Braverman told delegates.
She added: “[The public] know another thing, that the future could bring millions more migrants to these shores, uncontrolled and unmanageable unless the government they elect next year acts decisively to stop that happening.”
Tory London Assembly member Andrew Boff was kicked out of the conference after heckling Ms Braverman – accused her of “vilifying” the LGBT+ community.
Ms Braverman attacked the “dense net” of international human rights legislation – and even took aim at domestic rights. The senior Tory said she was surprised Labour’s Human Rights Act “was not called the Criminal Rights Act”.
She promised that the government “will soon begin closing down asylum hotels”, despite the enormous backlog of asylum cases the Home Office has struggled to tackle and problems getting small boat arrivals on the Bibby Stockholm barge.
But Ms Braverman stated: “Be under no illusion, we will do whatever it takes to stop the boats and deter bogus asylum seekers.”
Suella Braverman railed against ‘woke nonsense’ and ‘luxury beliefs’
She said Labour had been “aided by their allies in the third sector” who were always “bleating the same incessant accusation – racist, racist, racist. They’ve always used that smear. It won’t work against Rishi Sunak and it won’t work against me”.
The home secretary – believed to be positioning herself as the favourite of the right for a leadership contest if Rishi Sunak loses the general election – also claimed her party stands with the “many” against the “privileged woke minority”.
Ms Braverman railed against a wealthy elite with their “luxury beliefs”, adding: “Migrants won’t be taking their jobs – they’re more likely to be mowing their laws or cleaning their homes … they have no use for their British passport unless it’s taking to their second homes in Tuscany.”
She warned that under Labour, “Britain would go properly woke”. But she said she was “confident that when push comes to shove” voters will back the Tories again – calling Sir Keir Starmer her party’s “secret weapon”.
Andrew Boff, a leading Tory London Assembly member, was ejected from Ms Braverman’s speech at the Conservative conference for heckling her – accusing her of making his party look “transphobic”.
The LGBT+ Conservatives group patron has condemned Ms Braverman for saying last week that “simply being gay” should not be enough to gain protection as a refugee – and said some were pretending to be gay to gain asylum.
After he got booted out, Mr Boff told reporters: “This home secretary was basically vilifying gay people and trans people by this attack on LGBT ideology, or gender ideology. It is fictitious, it is ridiculous. It is a signal to people who don’t like people who are LGBT+ people.”
The senior Tory said Ms Braverman was saying “trash about gender ideology” that was “making our Conservative party look homophobic and transphobic”.
Ms Braverman told the conference hall that she was aware she was a “hate figure” because she tells the “blunt, unvarnished truth”.
