Suella Braverman's behind-the-scenes fight to take over from Sunak - analysis by Millie Cooke

Suella Braverman has been nothing short of a total nightmare for Rishi Sunak in recent months.

It began just days before she was sacked as Home Secretary when she penned a scathing Op-Ed in the Telegraph criticising the police for its failure to ban Armistice Day protests.

Since then, she has launched intervention after intervention, accusing Sunak of blocking her plans to curb migration and being complacent on an issue which is so important to Conservative voters.

She has accused him of a "betrayal of Tory voters" and issuing a "slap in the face to the British public".

The former Home Secretary has said Sunak has "no personal mandate to be Prime Minister" and accused him of "opting for wishful thinking as a comfort blanket to avoid having to make hard choices".

She has chipped away at his character, hitting the PM exactly where it hurts - reminding Tory MPs and members that he is not standing up for the values that matter to them, nor was he elected into the job.

Not only that - every intervention sees the former home secretary distance herself more and more from the Home Office's record on its key mission: stopping the boats.

She has somehow managed to leave Sunak to take the blame for the wreckage of a migration plan, the majority of which she oversaw.

As the UK approaches a general election, the question hanging over the Conservative Party is, who will take over from Sunak if the party suffers the defeat that everyone expects?

Braverman has manoeuvred herself well to be the favourite of the right. Her unofficial campaign has centred around being a straight-talking politician who does whatever it takes to stand up for traditional conservative values.

While her approval rating among the public is poor - a YouGov poll from last month put her at a net approval rating of -26 - she is acutely aware of the fact that it is not the public who would elect her next year

Her interventions have been a consistent rallying cry to the party membership - and they are the ones that hold the key to the top Tory job.

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While there is a risk that all her posturing may have ruffled too many feathers on both sides of the party, without those interventions Braverman knows she would have been tarnished with the same brush as Sunak on migration - an issue even more lethal than upsetting sections of her party.

Only time will tell if Braverman will throw her hat in the Tory leadership ring. But if she does, what is certainly clear is that her campaign started early.

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Just Stop Oil protest outside Sir Keir Starmer's HOME as police forced to intervene

Keir Starmer's home was targeted by Just Stop Oil protesters last night, singing reworded carols to criticise his position on the Rosebank oilfield in the North Sea.

They arrived outside his home at 8.30pm last night, demanding the Labour leader to commit to ending all new oil and gas licenses in the UK.

Police attended the scene, ordering the protesters to disperse. But no arrests were made, the Metropolitan Police said.

The protesters delivered a letter outlining his demands, as well as holding placards. One read: "Revoke Rosebank", while another said: "Arrest the real criminals".

The Labour Party has said it is opposed to the Rosebank oilfield but in September confirmed the party would not reverse the decision to grant a licence for the Scottish development.

Starmer said: "We will accept the baseline that we inherit from the government if we win that election … in order to ensure we have the stability that we desperately need in our economy."

The protesters said in their letter: “This is the most critical juncture in human history and you will likely soon be in the fortunate position where you can enact real, meaningful change.”

They added: “You have a choice. You can join a long list of politicians that promised change and delivered nothing, knowing full well that insufficient action is killing people right now and will result in the deaths of countless millions more.

“Or you can make a commitment to cancel all licences approved by the current government and end all future licensing and consents for fossil fuel exploration and extraction in the UK.”

Just a few weeks ago, Just Stop Oil protesters staged a similar demonstration outside Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's home in Kensington, London.

Making similar demands, they banged pots and pans outside the PM's London residence.

The protest was held to coincide with the start of the Cop28 climate conference in Dubai.

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• Just Stop Oil protest outside Starmer's HOME as police forced to intervene
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Cop28 saw the prime minister say he was "not in hock to ideological zealots" on the issue of climate change.

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Social media ban for under-16s 'speculation' - but 'right' we look at potential harms, says minister

A ban on social media use for under-16s has been branded "speculation" - but the government must "continue to look at" the need to protect children, a minister has said.

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Analysis reveals the workers that could be in shorter supply after visa rules change

Software programmers, IT specialists and chefs could be in shorter supply when an increased minimum salary for skilled worker visas kicks in next year, according to analysis conducted for Sky News.

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Americans in Biden's hometown 'worried sick' over migrant crisis - 'we're on a razor's edge'

Americans in Joe Biden’s hometown are “worried sick” over the migrant crisis as the president continues to fumble over his open border policy.

Thousands of migrants are currently trying to cross the US border every day under Biden’s watch.

However, the president has been blasted for failing to even “acknowledge the problem”.

Speaking to GB News about the threat of the US migrant crisis, Bob Cordaro, host of the Bob Cordaro Show on WILK Newsradio, said locals in the president’s home town: “they're worried sick over it”.

He added: “Now that there's the spectre of I believe we're going to face terrorist incidents in this country from the people we've let without vetting into the country.

“I mean, if 1 per cent of 10 million people is bad, whether it's criminal or terrorist, you've got a nightmare on your hands that we've created with his open border policy.

“I think the people in this area who are predominantly working class and middle class are starting to feel that bite.”

The comments came just before the FBI issued a fresh warning that terrorist groups could strike during the festive period as they use the Israel-Hamas war as an excuse to increase violence.

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A new joint bulletin from the Departments of Homeland Security and Justice to local, state and federal law enforcement warns that groups like al Qaeda and ISIS will likely use the war in Gaza as an opportunity to attack.

It said the terror organisations will use the ongoing Middle Eastern war “to increase calls for violence in the US during the holiday season compared to prior years.”

The bulletin said the most likely “primary targets” could include churches, synagogues and members of the Jewish community.

Cordaro added: “I had been given information a year ago, maybe it's two now about these illegal flights coming into the Wilkes Barre Scranton International Airport.

“We caught them and we stopped them, but not after that. Not until they lied a number of times about that they were even happening.

“But I think people are on a razor's edge about this migration, this illegal immigration crisis that the Biden administration has created.”

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Could a February budget give the government more wiggle room?

Today's news that Britain's economy unexpectedly shrank by 0.3% in the month of October will send a shiver down the spine of, not only the Treasury, but Number 10 too.

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Trump tipped to follow Britain's Rwanda policy as Biden 'copying Europe's migration errors'

Donald Trump and the Republican Party have been tipped to follow in Britain’s lead and create their own Rwanda plan as migrants continue to flood across the southern US border.

Thousands of migrants are currently trying to cross the US border every day under Biden’s watch.

However, the president has been blasted for failing to even “acknowledge the problem”.

In the UK, the controversial Rwanda plan scheme would aim to send asylum seekers and illegal immigrants to the African nation while asylum claims are processed.

Speaking to GB News, Bob Cordaro, host of the Bob Cordaro Show on WILK Newsradio, explained how the US is “copying Europe’s migration errors”.

When asked about whether the US could launch its own version of the Rwanda plan Cordaro said Biden is not considering any sort of similar scheme but that “the Republican Party is”.

“The unfortunate part is that the United States is copying Europe's migration errors,” Cordaro told GB News.

“How and why? I don't know. They haven't learned a thing, but they're proceeding at a pace.

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“I don't think we're even at the point where we could [do a Rwanda scheme].

“The American left, who is in charge of the Democrat party, who's in charge of so many of our cities, but is certainly in charge of the border and immigration issues, I don't even think they've acknowledged the problem yet.

“So we're a long way from coming up with common sense solutions such as having people from certain cultures that need to migrate go to places where the culture is similar.

“But I don't see us being that wise. I think we've watched Europe, we've ignored the calamities that have occurred and the oncoming train that the migration crisis has caused in Europe culturally, economically and so forth.

“No, I don't think they're they're looking at it at all.

“I think the Republican Party is, but certainly not this crew.”

The comments came just before 37 Tory MPs abstained from yesterday’s vote on the Rwanda Bill.

Although the bill passed its second reading with a majority of 44 votes, a significant number of MPs, including former Home Secretary Suella Braverman and former Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick, abstained due to concerns over the legislation.

Speaking on the situation on the southern US border, former Uvalde mayor, Don McLaughlin, told GB News’ Jacob Rees-Mogg that his town was plagued with what he called the “got-aways”.

The Texan mayor told Rees-Mogg: “Well, one of the things that we deal with is what they call ‘the got-aways’. The foot traffic and then the high-speed chases.

“I mean we have high-speed pursuits on a daily basis at Uvalde, anywhere from two to four a day. Then they come in the community and they bail out and run through the neighbourhoods and so forth.

“And so that ties our law enforcement up all day trying to round up these people because we don't know who's in these cars.

“So it's just really frustrating. Now the influx has gotten so much that people are even walking from the border through our town and community.

“And as they go they have a sense of entitlement and they steal, they take what they want and really don't think they have any regard for anybody's property or anybody's safety.”

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