Suella Braverman has delivered a harsh assessment of why the Conservatives lost the election, laying blame on Rishi Sunak for pursuing what she termed an "idiotic strategy" that
underestimated voters.
In what appears to be a precursor to a potential leadership bid, the former home secretary asserted that her party "failed in office and brought this outcome upon itself."
Writing in The Sunday Telegraph, Braverman attributed the party's historically disastrous defeat, which saw them reduced to just 121 seats, to a strategy of sporadically and inconsistently echoing 'Tory Right' positions that contradicted their liberal Conservative governance record.
"I'll say it again: voters aren't naive. They saw our actions in office and disregarded our insincere campaign rhetoric," she added.
Braverman, who retained her seat in Fareham and Waterlooville albeit with a reduced majority, criticized the party for embracing "high taxes," "high immigration," and what she termed "absurd political correctness," which she believes contributed to the scale of their defeat.
Addressing Conservative critics who blame the election outcome on those advocating for a shift further to the right, Braverman countered: "The issue wasn't individuals like myself and David Frost cautioning against the errors being made; the errors themselves were the problem!"
Braverman's article follows her avoidance of questions regarding a potential bid for Conservative leadership after Rishi Sunak announced his intention to step down post-election.
Other Conservative MPs anticipated to launch leadership bids include former security minister Tom Tugendhat, ex-immigration minister Robert Jenrick, former business secretary Kemi Badenoch, and former home secretary Dame Priti Patel.
In a subtle hint at her own leadership ambitions, Braverman emphasized the need for a revamp of the party's organizational structure to ensure MPs heed the party members' voices.
"We must resist any proposals to sideline grassroots participation in leadership elections," she asserted.
Highlighting that Mr. Sunak ascended to Tory leadership following Liz Truss's downfall, Braverman stressed: "It was not the members who chose the leader responsible for the loss of two-thirds of my colleagues' seats. That responsibility rests with us MPs." Photo by UK Government, Wikimedia commons.
