Tory MPs complain to chief whip about Suella Braverman's asylum speech

Around a dozen Tory MPs, including ministers, have complained to the chief whip about Suella Braverman's recent speech on immigration and refugees.

Some have told the BBC her remarks were offensive, divisive and inaccurate.

As first reported by The Times, they raised concerns after the home secretary said being gay or a woman should not entitle people to protection as a refugee.

She later said some people "purport" to be gay, to try to "game the system".

A source close to Ms Braverman said: "The home secretary speaks for the concerns of the majority of the British people about uncontrolled, illegal migration - and as someone who works on this issue day in, day out and was a lawyer on well over 100 immigration and asylum cases."

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The MPs have spoken to the BBC on condition of anonymity.

"Why do you need to single out one section of people?" asked one. A source close to the Home Secretary insisted that gay people were not singled out.

It is not the first time, MPs say, that there have been concerns about the home secretary's tone.

It is unclear exactly what will happen as a result of the complaints but it is expected government Chief Whip Simon Hart - who is in charge of party discipline - will relay the concerns to the prime minister.

Sources have also suggested Ms Braverman may speak personally to some of those who are unhappy.

Downing Street has said it signed off the home secretary's speech to a Washington DC think tank on Tuesday.

Earlier this week, one Conservative MP told the BBC: "The danger is that unless the PM deals with her [sacks her], it reflects poorly on him."

Home Office figures show 1,334 asylum applications were lodged in the UK in 2022, where sexual orientation formed part of the basis for the claim.

This represented 1.5% of the 74,751 asylum claims made last year.

'Unhelpful noises'

Meanwhile, former defence minister Tobias Ellwood has told the BBC Ms Braverman does not represent the Conservative Party with her comments on multiculturalism.

In a BBC interview on Thursday, Rishi Sunak repeatedly declined to say if he agreed with his home secretary that multiculturalism had "failed" in the UK.

In her speech in Washington, Ms Braverman argued that multiculturalism was a "misguided dogma" which had allowed people to "live parallel lives".

Asked if she was wrong, the prime minister said the UK had "done an incredible job of integrating people into society".

In an interview with Politics South, to be broadcast on Sunday, Mr Ellwood said that, in the lead-up to the Tory conference which opens in Manchester on Sunday, Ms Braverman was "making noises in a particular direction for a particular audience, which I think are unhelpful".

"We've had a turbulent couple of years, let's be honest about it, and we're starting to calm things down. Statecraft is returning to No 10.

"And I just wish we'd recognise there is an election approaching. We're starting to do better in the polls... Let's focus on supporting this prime minister."Our party does well when we approach from the centre right, that's where we do well. When we go to the extremes, in the same way when the Labour Party goes to the extremes, you never win."

In a separate development, the Independent Press Standards Organisation has ruled that a claim by the home secretary that UK child grooming gangs were "almost all British-Pakistani men" was misleading,

The press regulator instructed the Mail on Sunday to publish an online correction to an opinion piece written by Ms Braverman in April. The correction now links the claim to high-profile cases like the Rotherham abuse scandal.

A source close to Ms Braverman described the IPSO ruling as "perverse".