Grotesquely cruel and lacking judgement, but Braverman can’t lose

She broke the ministerial code and her subsequent statements beg more questions than they answer, says Sean O’Grady

Suella Braverman managed to avoid going ‘full tofu’ in the Commons on Monday (PA)

It’s difficult to find a precise forerunner to Suella Braverman in British political history, or indeed the chronicles of any society. To be fired and rehired for the same job inside six days is a remarkable record; but, as is possible, to be sacked again from the same job for much the same reasons would be even more remarkable. Like her one-time but temporary ally Liz Truss, she will go down in the record books for all the wrong reasons.

Her performance in the Commons was more considered than some of her usual knockabout Boris Johnson tribute act routines, and apart from appallingly labelling refugees an “invasion” she mostly avoided going “full tofu”.

Despite a six-page letter of explanation to the Home Affairs Select Committee, and fresh assurances that she “never blocked the usage” of hotel accommodation to ease the pressure on Manston, doubts linger. The MP for the area, Roger Gale, indicated dissent during the parliamentary exchanges and seems to still believe that Braverman did refuse to commission necessary accommodation in a timely way, consistent with the law. These matters seem still to be in dispute.