British Home Secretary Suella Braverman resigned for breaching rules about sharing sensitive government information after sending an official document from her personal email, six weeks after her appointment by Prime Minister Liz Truss. An eccentric hardliner, Braverman left the Truss government, U.K. media reported Wednesday, adding to the turmoil engulfing the new leader.
"I have made a mistake, I accept responsibility; I resign," she said in a letter to Truss posted on Twitter. In a parting shot at the government, Braverman also said she had "serious concerns" about the government's commitment to honoring pledges it made to voters at the last election.
The circumstances of Braverman's departure were not immediately made clear but the BBC and others reported the exit of the right-winger, who had stood herself in the recent Conservative leadership election.
A Home Office source confirmed that Braverman was out after the prime minister made a last-minute cancellation of a trip out of Westminster on Wednesday.
Braverman's departure marks the second of Truss's most senior ministers to be replaced in less than a week after she sacked her finance minister Kwasi Kwarteng on Friday.
Braverman is a figurehead of the right in the party and the exit of a former Tory leadership candidate will create further challenges for Truss as she struggles to maintain her grip on power.
The Guardian cited sources saying her departure was "at the behest" of Kwarteng's replacement Jeremy Hunt. Former transport minister Grant Shapps is being tipped to replace her, the newspaper said.
Meanwhile, Truss said it is important Cabinet confidentiality is respected, in a letter to Braverman on Wednesday. "I accept your resignation and respect the decision you have made. It is important the ministerial code is upheld and that Cabinet confidentiality is respected," Truss wrote.
Braverman is an eccentric figure from the right wing of the ruling Conservative Party.
On Tuesday, she commented in Parliament on climate protests causing disruption, saying: "It's the Labour party, it's the Lib Dems, it's the coalition of chaos, it's the Guardian-reading tofu-eating wokerati-dare I say, the anti-growth coalition-that we have to thank for the disruption we are seeing on our roads today."
The comments were ridiculed in Parliament and on social media, where they went viral.
