Braverman defends mayoral candidate claiming she is victim of ‘character assassination’
Suella Braverman comes to the defence of Susan Hall over comments made about the Jewish community and Sadiq Khan in keynote speech at Tory conference
Lee Harpin is the Jewish News's political editor
Suella Braverman has leapt to the defence of London Tory mayoral candidate Susan Hall saying she has been subjected to a “character assasination” over her comments about Sadiq Khan.
In her keynote speech at the Conservative conference in Manchester, the home secretary singled out the current London mayor as evidence of “whether Labour can be trusted to fight crime”.
Looking ahead to next year’s mayoral election she said:”If there’s any justice, Susan Hall is going to wipe the floor with him next May.”
Then, in a clear reference to the widespread condemnation of Hall’s claims that Jewish community is being left “frightened” by “divisive” Khan, Braverman told the audience:”They’ve already started the character assassination against Sue.
“The distortions. The insults. The lies. ”
She continued:”That’s what the Labour party does: It prefers smears to debate.
Personally, I take their abuse as a compliment.”
Jewish News had earlier reported on the widespread criticism of Hall’s comments about Khan, made in a speech at the Conservative Friends of Israel reception Tory London mayor candidate sparks fury with ‘Jewish community frightened of Khan’ claimon Monday night, at which Braverman also spoke. Now Susan Hall claims ‘so many’ Jewish friends in London are leaving UK for Israel
In a hard-line speech, clearly designed to play to heer supporters on the right of the Tory Party, Braverman insisted Tories were “too squeamish” in past to deal with immigration properly from fear of being called “racist”.
She continued:””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.
“Because today the option of moving from a poorer country to a richer one is not just a dream for billions of people, it is an entirely realistic prospect.”
Braverman also resorted to a familiar attack on Labour saying the party under Keir Starmer would “open the borders.”
She criticised Labour for introducing the Human Rights Act, which incorporates the European convention on human rights into UK law.
“I am surprised they didn’t call it the Criminal Rights Act,” she said.
At one stage in the speech, many believe was an attempt to launch herself as a possible successor to Rishi Sunak as party leader, Braverman condemned what she claimed were “the privileged woke minority” with “their luxury beliefs.”
She added:”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.
“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.”
In another crowd-pleasing announcement, Braverman vowed that sex offenders will no longer be able to change their name or gender to evade monitoring,
while foreign offenders will be “booted out” of Britain at the earliest opportunity.
The speech received a standing ovation from those inside the room. But it alo left some Tory MPs uneasy.
Andrew Boff, a Conservative London Assembly member was ejected from the hall after accusing Braverman of “talking rubbish” about gender ideology and called speech a “homophobic rant.”
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