Suella Braverman has resigned as home secretary after a “mistake” surrounding sending an official document.
In her resignation letter, Braverman criticised a “tumultuous time” under Liz Truss, where she admitted sending an “official document from my personal email”.
She said she sent the message to a “trusted parliamentary colleague as part of policy engagement, and with the aim of garnering support for government policy on migration”.
Braverman acknowledged that constituted a “technical infringement of the rules”, the document was a draft written ministerial statement, and while much of it had already been briefed to MPs “nevertheless it is right for me to go”.
She said the business of government "relies upon people accepting responsibility for their mistakes”.
Braverman added: “Pretending we haven’t made mistakes, carrying on as if everyone can’t see we have made them and hoping that things will magically come right is not serious politics.
“I have made a mistake; I accept responsibility; I resign.”
It comes after chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng was sacked last Friday, with Braverman's departure coming only 43 days after her appointment.
Braverman was seen entering Number 10 at around 1pm this afternoon, leaving around half an hour later, after the prime minister made a last-minute cancellation of a trip out of Westminster.
Braverman is a figurehead of the right in the party and the exit of a former Tory leadership candidate will create further challenges for Liz Truss as she struggles to maintain her grip on power.
The Guardian, which first reported her departure, said former transport secretary Grant Shapps, a major backer of Rishi Sunak for the Tory leadership and a critic of Truss, was being lined up to succeed Braverman.
Braverman, a former attorney general, only became home secretary on September 6 when Truss brought her in to replace Priti Patel.
Her tenure as home secretary has been controversial, having accused Tory critics who successfully forced Truss into U-turning over plans to scrap the top rate of income tax of a “coup”.
Shapps was one of the leading voices urging the prime minister to backtrack on the widely-criticised plan during the Tory party conference earlier this month.
It follows the majority of the government's mini-budget being scrapped on Monday by new chancellor Jeremy Hunt.
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