Braverman suggests liberalism and support of immigration are “luxury beliefs”. She says:
I know there are some who think that emphasising the importance of law and order or secure borders, is unedifying.
They look down on those of us who care about such things.
Of course, they are entitled to their beliefs.
But let’s be honest.
These are luxury beliefs.
What do I mean by that?
Our politically correct critics have money. They have status. And they have loud voices.
They have the luxury of promoting seductive but irresponsible ideas safe in the knowledge that their privilege will insulate them from any collateral damage.
The luxury beliefs brigade sit in their ivory towers telling ordinary people that they are morally deficient because they dare to get upset about the impact of illegal migration, net zero, or habitual criminals.
And you can be sure of one thing.
People with luxury beliefs will flock to Labour at the next election because that’s the way to get the kind of society they want.
They like open borders. The migrants coming in won’t be taking their jobs. In fact, they are more likely to have them mowing their lawns or cleaning their homes.
They love soft sentences. The criminals who benefit from such ostentatious compassion won’t be terrorising their streets or grooming their children.
They are desperate to reverse Brexit. They think patriotism is embarrassing and have no use for a British passport if it doesn’t entitle them to live in their second homes in Tuscany, Dordogne or Barcelona.
For these people, I have a simple message … You are entitled to your luxury beliefs, but the British people will no longer pay for them.
Filters BETA
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Suella Braverman, the home secretary, has given a speech denouncing liberalism, support for immigration and opposition to Brexit as “luxury beliefs”. (See 3.51pm.) She was heckled by Andrew Boff, a Conservative member of the London assembly, who was thrown out of the conference in response. He said her speech was homophobic and ridiculous. (See 5.11pm.)
A resounding yes. Actually he should be in the House of Lords. The problem is if he became an MP I think any leader of the party might be looking quite nervously behind his back.
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Alex Chalk, the justice secretary, has announced the government is considering plans to rent prison spaces from foreign countries as a solution to overcrowding in prisons in England and Wales. (See 5.39pm.) In response, his Labour shadow Shabana Mahmood said:
There’s no greater symbol of the way in which the Tories have run our criminal justice system into the ground, than the fact they are ‘exploring’ putting prisoners in foreign jails because they are incapable of building the prisons places this country needs to keep our people safe.
The Conservative MP Peter Aldous MP has voiced his disdain for rhetoric used by Suella Braverman and Claire Coutinho about net zero. The former referred to environmentalists as holding “luxury beliefs”, the latter referred to eco campaigners as “zealots”.
The MP, who represents Waveney in Suffolk, said:
My constituents in the east of England are a coastal community at the forefront of climate change and also actually see net zero as in a positive light, as an opportunity to bring great jobs to the area and to have sustainable economic development. I wouldn’t describe them as holding luxury beliefs, or as zealots.
It seems like I was wrong to suggest that Nigel Farage would be comfortable with a Tory party led by Suella Braverman. (See 4.32pm.) He told GB News:
We will do whatever it takes to stop the small boats, and then when it comes to solutions do you know what she offered? Nothing.
She didn’t even mention the ECHR. We all expected this to be the big policy announcement and what is one of the top two or three policies in the country? We got to stop small boats, the public want it, 70% want small boats stopped, think the crossings are wrong. She’s offered no solutions.
It is the most disappointing speech from a so-called hard-line Home Office minister we can ever have expected.
In fact, Braverman clearly referred to the European convention on human rights when she complained about the “dense net of international rules that were designed for another era”. And she did not need to say any more, because Tory activists know full well (she has said it enough times before) that she favours withdrawal. It is Rishi Sunak who is preventing the government adopting that as policy, not Braverman.
Nusrat Ghani, the industry minister, has criticised Susan Hall in a fringe meeting for “demonising” Sadiq Khan. This is from Sunder Katwala from the British Future thinktank, which organised the event.
Ghani said the Conservatives should not stoop to the language of fear and demonisation. “Have we learnt nothing from Zac Goldsmith’s campaign” asked @Nus_Ghani who are spoke of her strong relationship with @BoardofDeputies
Alex Chalk, the justice secretary, has announced plans to rent prison spaces from foreign countries as a solution to overcrowding in prisons in England and Wales. In his speech to the conference he said:
This government is doing more than any since the Victorian era to expand prison capacity.
Alongside our extra 20,000 prison places programme, refurbishment of old prisons and rapid deployment cells, renting prison places in other countries will ensure that we always have the space to keep the public safe from the most dangerous offenders.
In a news release explaining the policy, the Ministry of Justice says:
The justice secretary unveiled the government will now also enter exploratory discussions with potential partner countries in Europe to rent prison space abroad.
Agreements would mean that prisoners in the UK could be moved to another country’s prison estate provided the facilities, regime and rehabilitation provided meets British standards. This is similar to steps taken by Belgium and Norway which have used foreign prison places in the Netherlands in the last decade.
The government will legislate as soon as parliamentary time allows to enable any future arrangements and will require that conditions are to the same standard as prisons in England and Wales.
PA Media says the UK’s prison population has grown substantially since 2020 and according to the latest figures, there are now 87,793 prisoners locked up. As of 29 September, capacity across the whole prison estate stood at 88,561.
Suella Braverman, the home secretary, says she does not want to see Andrew Boff, the Conservative member of the London assembly who was thrown out of the conference for heckling her during her speech (see 5.11pm), banned from the conference for good.
Andrew Boff’s heckles were silly but I think he should be forgiven and let back into conference
Labour says Suella Braverman’s conference speech was “divorced from reality”. This is from Yvette Cooper, the shadow home secretary.
Suella Braverman’s speech was devoid of practical policies and divorced from the reality of Tory failure over the last 13 years. She had nothing to say about the knife crime killing our children, the epidemic of town centre crime undermining our communities, or the collapse in prosecutions under the Tories which means more criminals are getting off. Nor did she mention the 1,000 people who have arrived on small boats since Tory conference started, all because she has totally lost control of border security.
Her promise to only “begin” closing hotels sometime “soon” is a massive watering down of the prime minister’s pledge to end hotel use [to house asylum seekers] last year, all while hotel use is still going up not down, and is now costing the taxpayer an astronomical £8m a day because they have simply failed to get a grip.
Suella Braverman and helicopter-riding Rishi Sunak may have the luxury of ignoring the blight of town centre crime or the serious problems our country faces but the British people don’t.
Suella Braverman was heckled during her party conference speech by a London assembly Tory member, who accused her of “vilifying” LGBTQ+ people, PA Media reports. PA says:
London Assembly member Andrew Boff was escorted from the premises after heckling the home secretary during her speech.
A member of the capital’s assembly since 2008, he was approached by officials and police when he heckled Braverman after she said ministers must challenge the “poison” of talk of subjects such as white privilege and gender ideology.
He said: “There’s no such thing as gender ideology.”
Boff, who has repeatedly vied to become a Conservative candidate for mayor in the capital, is known for his socially liberal views.
Speaking to the PA Media news agency after he was removed from his party’s conference, he criticised Braverman’s “ridiculous” language.
He said: “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. Words like that in the forum of the party that I love need to be challenged.”
Asked if he had planned the protest in advance, he said he attended the speech to “hear from her own mouth what her views were”.
As he was removed, he complained about the “trash” language Braverman had used in her address.
“It is making our Conservative party look transphobic and homophobic,” he told reporters.
This is from Sky’s Josh Gafson:
Last month, in a news story to mark the launch of the Guardian’s new Europe edition, Jon Henley wrote about research showing that “almost one-third of Europeans now vote for populist, far-right or far-left parties”. The Dutch academic who led the research, Matthijs Rooduijn, said his team had considered whether the Conservative party should be considered a far right party. “In the end we didn’t because nativism was not their core focus,” he said. “But we may in future.”
On the basis of that speech, if Suella Braverman becomes party leader, that moment will come. That was a classic populist speech, presenting politics in simplistic terms as a contest between the people and a sinister elite. It is telling that she in effect quoted Jeremy Corbyn, a leftwing populist, by quoting Shelley. (See 4.03pm.) But Corbyn himself would be horrified by her message, which focused relentlessly on the threat posed by immigrants.
What put this into far right territory was Braverman’s contempt for liberal and legal norms. It is one thing to criticise the Human Rights Act. But to describe it as a “criminal rights act” goes further, implying the entire basis of human rights law is suspect. Nigel Farage said earlier that he would not want to join today’s Conservative party, but with someone like Braverman in charge, he would feel very much at home.
The conventional wisdom is that a home secretary can never give a speech too rightwing for a Tory conference. But will they all go for the diatribe about “luxury beliefs”. (See 3.51pm.) The Conservatives used to approve of luxury, and many of them think of themselves as liberal. That wing of the party will be horrified by this.
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