Suella Braverman withdraws from Tory leadership race in stunning exit as she takes parting shot at 'traumatised' party
Suella withdraws from Tory leadership race in stunning exit as she takes parting shot at 'traumatised' party
PA
Suella Braverman has taken a parting shot at her Conservative colleagues after withdrawing from the 2024 Tory leadership race.
The former Home Secretary, who stood in the 2022 contest to succeed Boris Johnson, claimed Tory MPs did not want to hear the truth about Labour's landslide victory on July 4.
Writing for The Telegraph, the former Home Secretary said: “Although I’m grateful to the 10 MPs who wanted to nominate me for the leadership, getting onto the ballot is not enough.”
Conceding it was not enough to mount a serious leadership bid, Braverman added: “There is, for good or for ill, no point in someone like me running to lead the Tory Party when most of the MPs disagree with my diagnosis and prescription.
Suella withdraws from Tory leadership race in stunning exit as she takes parting shot at 'traumatised' partyPA“The traumatised party does not want to hear these things said out loud.
“Instead, platitudes about ‘unity’ are fashionable. That’s all fine but it’s not honest.”
The ex-Home Secretary also claimed her Conservative colleagues have branded her “mad, bad and dangerous”.
Braverman's decision to drop out comes after Priti Patel, Kemi Badenoch, Robert Jenrick, Tom Tugendhat, James Cleverly and Mel Stride all threw their hats into the ring.
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS:
Suella BravermanPABraverman failed to get a single Tory MP to publicly back her before pulling out of the contest.
She received the support of 27 predominantly Brexit-backing MPs before crashing out in the second round of the 2022 leadership race.
However, Braverman claimed she received the support of enough MPs to launch a bid for leader.
Speaking during her appearance at the National Conservatism Conference in Washington DC earlier this month, Braverman blamed “liberal” Tories for Rishi Sunak's historic defeat.
Suella Braverman
PAShe has also warned that the Tories must not become “a collection of fanatical, irrelevant, centrist cranks”.
Braverman also revealed she would vote for Donald Trump if she was an American citizen.
“I want Trump to be President,” she said during her phone-in appearance on LBC.
Braverman added: “If we look at the policy - don't look at the characters and the personalities - if we look at the policy, I think the world will be safer under Donald Trump.”