Suella Braverman resigns as Home Secretary after sending official document from private email

In her resignation letter, Ms Braverman acknowledged she had made a “technical infringement” of the rules.

She told Prime Minister Liz Truss that she had sent an official document from her personal email to “a trusted parliamentary colleague”.

“This constitutes a technical infringement of the rules,” said Ms Braverman.

“I have made a mistake; I accept responsibility: I resign.”

She said it “has been a great honour to serve at the Home Office”.

Grant Shapps will replace her as Home Secretary.

Her resignation comes just two days after she announced the Home Office is to launch a targeted review of police dismissals following Baroness Casey’s interim report into the culture and standards at the Metropolitan Police Service.

She said this is to ensure that the system is “more effective in removing officers who are not fit to serve the public”.

Baroness Casey’s report raised significant concerns, including that fewer officers are being dismissed, officers with multiple allegations made against them are still serving the public and police from ethnic minorities are disproportionately represented in the misconduct system.

The Home Office review is likely to consider:

• The effectiveness of the existing system to dismiss those who fall seriously short of the standards expected by policing and the public;
• The impact of the introduction of changes to misconduct panels, including legally qualified chairs; and
• Whether forces are making use of their powers to discharge officers during their probationary period.

Working with policing partners, it will also assess whether the regulatory framework for the police disciplinary system should be changed.

The former Home Secretary said at the time that the public rightly expects the highest standards of behaviour from police officers and the vast majority meet this expectation.

“But recently too many high-profile incidents and reports, especially in London, have damaged trust – which is unfair on the public and lets down other serving officers,” said Ms Braverman.

“This cannot continue. Culture and standards in the police must improve. And where an officer has fallen seriously short of these expectations, demonstrable, public action must be taken.

“I have been clear it is absolutely vital police act to restore trust, return to common-sense policing and treat the public and victims with the respect they deserve.”

In her resignation letter to Ms Truss, Ms Braverman, who was appointed Home Secretary on September 6, also stressed that “the British people deserve policing they can respect”.

The Conservative MP for Fareham became the first person to launch a leadership bid to become the next Prime Minister before being knocked out of the race and deciding to back Ms Truss.

The 42-year-old was made the Government’s most senior lawyer in February 2020, taking the role of Attorney General amid Boris Johnson’s growing battle with the judiciary.

During this time she became the first Cabinet-level minister to take maternity leave after special legislation had to be passed by Parliament to allow her to take time away from her ministerial duties.

The MP for Fareham in Hampshire since 2015, Ms Braverman studied law at the University of Cambridge, before gaining a masters at the Sorbonne in Paris. She also qualified as an attorney in New York and was called to the Bar in Britain in 2005, specialising in public law and judicial review.

From 2010 to 2015 she was on the Attorney General’s Panel of Treasury Counsel. She has defended the Home Office in immigration cases, the Parole Board in challenges by prisoners and the Ministry of Defence in matters relating to injuries sustained in battle.