Suella Braverman fires pictures at rival who’s set to beat her as Tory chief

Suella Braverman has fired shots at her former underling who’s tipped to beat her in the Tory leadership race.

Former Home Secretary Ms Braverman lashed out at Robert Jenrick as the party’s civil war deepened. Ex-Immigration Minister Mr Jenrick is among the frontrunners to lead the Tories in opposition following last week’s crushing election defeat.

It comes as Ms Braverman was branded “disgraceful” after a rant about “monstrous” Pride flags during a hard-right conference in Washington DC. Her remarks have sparked a backlash and raised further questions about her suitability as party leader.

Setting her sights on Mr Jenrick, Ms Braverman questioned his right-wing credentials. She wrote in The Telegraph: “He definitely comes from the left of the party.”

She pointed out that he voted Remain in the Brexit Referendum, and said he wasn’t previously as hardline as her on immigration. She dismissed him as a “centrist, Rishi supporter” as the race for the top job gets messy.

Throwing shade at Mr Jenrick, who was Immigration Minister during her tenure at the Home Office, she wrote: “It’s really good that he’s moving in a different direction. Wasn’t the story that he was sent by Rishi to keep an eye on me in the Home Office?”

Ms Braverman is widely expected to announce a leadership bid in the coming days. Addressing members of the Liz Truss-supporting Popular Conservativism group, she claimed Rishi Sunak had been “weak and squeamish” on immigration.

Hours earlier she had made an inflammatory speech in the US Pride flags made Whitehall look like “”occupied territory”. Ms Braverman went on to claim that the Tories failed because they were too liberal.

She said: “We Tory ministers, nominally in charge of the system, completely failed. The Progress flag flew over our buildings as if they were occupied territory.”

And Ms Braverman continued: “I couldn’t even get the flag of a horrible political campaign I disagreed with taken down from the roof of the government department I was supposed to be in charge of.”

Her remarks have gone down poorly, with former minister Jonathan Gullis – who was voted out last week – stating: “I think Suella’s rhetoric at times could be overly explosive, overly divisive, is not what the country wants to hear in all cases, because I think it is too aggressive.”

And the Conservative mayor for Tees Valley, Ben Houchen, said Ms Braverman had “shot herself in the foot” with her remarks – saying she’s not a “credible offering”.

And former party chair Baroness Sayeeda Warsi said: “I have been warning about Braverman and her brand of toxic, divisive politics for years.”