Braverman's speech 'the absolute bottom' in what seemed to be a party leadership bid
Suella Braverman has been slammed over her victory speech which was seen as an excruciating bid for Tory leadership after she held onto her Fareham and Waterlooville seat.
The former Home Secretary kept control of the Fareham constituency although with a much-reduced majority, with 35% of the vote share while Labour’s Gemma Furnivall came second on 22.9%.
At her count, Braverman shamelessly told voters that the “Conservative Party has let you down” and “I’m sorry that my party didn’t listen to you. Her speech was interpreted as a future leadership bid with one ex-Tory MP berating her for speech as “the absolute bottom.”
In a lengthy speech after her win, Braverman thanked voters in the area for electing her for a fourth time, before going on to address the wider Conservative results across the country as her party faces a devastating loss.
She said: “There’s only one thing I can say. Sorry. I’m sorry that my party didn’t listen to you. The Conservative Party has let you down. You, the great british people voted for us for 14 years and we did not keep our promises.
“We’ve acted as if we are entitled to your vote, despite what we did, despite what we didn’t do.. We need to learn our lesson.”
She went on: “The country deserves better and we’ve got to do better, and I will do everything in my power to rebuild trust. We need to listen to you. You have spoken to us very clearly.”
Former Conservative MP Sir Charles Walker who stood down at this election slammed the speech as “the absolute bottom” and “disgraceful”.
He told Times Radio: “What an absolutely disgraceful speech. I thought on a really difficult night for the Conservative Party that was just the bottom. The absolute bottom. Absolutely a disgraceful thing to do.”
“Some backbencher playing this sort of great statesman-like role at a count. I mean really the bottom”.
He added: “If Suella Braverman leads the Conservative Party, I and many others will not be within that party. I don’t think that will bother her in the slightest because she’s going to trade off centre-right Conservatives for Reform voters.
“Now of course we need to get some of the Reform voters back, but I have thought for many, many months, actually a couple of years, that Suella Braverman would be far happier leading Reform than she would be leading the Conservative Party. She’s in the wrong party.””Now of course we need to get some of the Reform voters back, but I have thought for many, many months, actually a couple of years, that Suella Braverman would be far happier leading Reform than she would be leading the Conservative Party. She’s in the wrong party.”
Former Conservative MP Rory Stewart commented on the speech: “That is a very very odd statement to make at your count, most people thank the police officers, this is an attempt to pitch the party to the right.”
One X user also said: “Suella Braverman going blatantly, brazenly, shamelessly full leadership speech.”
Hannah Davenport is news reporter at Left Foot Forward
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