Suella Braverman

Sue-Ellen Cassiana "Suella" Braverman (née Fernandes; born 3 April 1980) is a British politician serving as Attorney General for England and Wales and Advocate General for Northern Ireland since February 2020 and has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Fareham since 2015.[2] A member of the Conservative Party, she chaired the European Research Group (ERG) from 19 June 2017 to 9 January 2018.

The Right Honourable

Suella Braverman

QC MP
Braverman in 2019
Attorney General for England and Wales
Advocate General for Northern Ireland
Assumed office
13 February 2020
Prime MinisterBoris Johnson
Preceded byGeoffrey Cox
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union
In office
9 January 2018 – 15 November 2018
Prime MinisterTheresa May
Preceded byPosition established
Succeeded byKwasi Kwarteng
Chairman of the
European Research Group
In office
19 June 2017 – 9 January 2018
DeputyMichael Tomlinson
Preceded bySteve Baker
Succeeded byJacob Rees-Mogg
Deputy Chairman of the
European Research Group
In office
20 November 2016 – 19 June 2017
Serving with Michael Tomlinson
ChairmanSteve Baker
Preceded byOffice established
Succeeded bySteve Baker (2018)
Member of Parliament
for Fareham
Assumed office
7 May 2015
Preceded byMark Hoban
Majority26,086 (45.6%)
Personal details
Born
Sue-Ellen Cassiana Fernandes

(1980-04-03) 3 April 1980
Harrow, London, England
Political partyConservative
Spouse(s)
Rael Braverman
(
m. 2018)
[1]
Alma mater
Websitewww.suellabraverman.co.uk

Early life and education

Braverman was born to Christie and Uma Fernandes of Indian origin,[3][4] who had emigrated to Britain in the 1960s from Kenya and Mauritius. Her mother was a nurse and a councillor in Brent[4] and her father, of Goan-ancestry in South India,[5] worked for a housing association. She was born in Harrow, Greater London, and grew up in Wembley.[6] Her early education was at the Uxendon Manor Primary School in Brent and the independent (fee-paying) Heathfield School, Pinner, on a partial scholarship.[6][7]

Braverman read Law at Queens' College, Cambridge. She lived in France for two years, as an Erasmus Programme student and then as an Entente Cordiale Scholar, where she completed a master's degree in European and French Law at Pantheon-Sorbonne University.[8][9] During her undergraduate studies, she was Chairman of the Cambridge University Conservative Association.[10] Between 2005 and 2015, Braverman practised as a barrister.[8]

Braverman is a member of Middle Temple, where she won an Astbury Scholarship in 2005. She completed her pupillage at 2–3 Gray's Inn Square (now Cornerstone Barristers). From 2008 onwards, she was based at No5 Chambers in London practising in planning, judicial review and immigration law.[11] She was appointed to the Attorney General's C Panel of Counsel in 2010.[12]

Political career

Conservative candidate

At the 2005 general election, Braverman contested Leicester East, finishing in second place behind Labour's Keith Vaz.[13] She sought selection as the Conservative candidate in Bexhill and Battle, but was unsuccessful, and was eventually selected to be the Conservative candidate in Fareham.[14] Braverman also sought election to the London Assembly at the 2012 Assembly elections, being placed fourth on the Conservative London-wide list.[15] She missed out, however, as only the first three Conservative candidates were elected.[16]

Parliamentary activity

Braverman was elected to the House of Commons as the MP for Fareham in 2015 with 56.1% of the vote and a majority of 22,262.[17] She gave her maiden speech on 1 June 2015.[18] She has taken a particular interest in education, home affairs and justice and has written for The Daily Telegraph, Bright Blue, i News, HuffPost, Brexit Central and ConservativeHome.[19]

From 2015 to 2017, Braverman was a member of the Education Select Committee and the Education, Skills and the Economy Sub-Committee.[20] Between November 2015 and February 2016, she was a member of the Joint Committee on the Draft Investigatory Powers Bill.[21] Braverman chaired the all-party parliamentary group (APPG) on Financial Education for Young People from September 2016 to May 2017. Working with the charity Young Enterprise and the money-saving expert Martin Lewis, she led the APPG's inquiry into the provision of financial education in schools and launched its report, Financial Education in Schools: Two Years On – Job Done?,[22] which called for better financial education in schools.

She is a Commissioner on the Social Market Foundation commission on inequality in education,[23] a cross-party initiative which is examining the causes and effects of inequality in education at primary and secondary levels in England and Wales. Braverman joined the Armed Forces Parliamentary Scheme in 2016, graduating from the scheme in 2017.[24]

Braverman opened a Westminster Hall debate[25] in the House of Commons[26] on the failings of Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust and has chaired meetings with the Trust's executives along with other MPs on the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Hampshire in which instances of poor care quality and the deaths of patients were investigated.[27] She was a member of the panel of an inquiry, led by think-tank British Future, to examine how the government can protect the rights of EU citizens in the UK.[28]

Braverman campaigned to leave the European Union in the 2016 EU membership referendum;[29] a majority (55%) of votes in her constituency were for leaving.[30] She was Chair of the European Research Group, a pro-Leave group of Conservative MPs, until her promotion to ministerial office; she was replaced by Jacob Rees-Mogg.[31] Following the 2017 general election, Braverman was appointed Parliamentary Private Secretary to the ministers of the Treasury.[32]

During the January 2018 reshuffle, she was appointed as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Department for Exiting the European Union.[33] She resigned on the same day that Davis' successor, Dominic Raab, resigned as Brexit Secretary in protest at Theresa May's draft deal (15 November 2018), which was the day after the Prime Minister released the draft Brexit withdrawal agreement.[34]

In March 2019, Braverman was criticised for stating that "As Conservatives, we are engaged in a battle against cultural Marxism". Critics claimed that she was referring to an antisemitic conspiracy theory often employed by Neo-Nazis and alt-right activists as a means of attacking Jewish people involved in politics. She was criticised by the Board of Deputies of British Jews as well as multiple anti-racism charities.[35] In a subsequent statement, the Board of Deputies declared, "We believe she is in no way antisemitic and did not intentionally use antisemitic language", and found that she "is clearly a good friend of the Jewish community" and that the Board was "sorry to see that the whole matter has caused distress".[36]

Attorney General

In the February 2020 reshuffle, Braverman was appointed as Attorney General for England and Wales and Advocate General for Northern Ireland, succeeding Geoffrey Cox who had been dismissed from government. She is the second female Attorney General, and the first Conservative female Attorney General.

Personal life

Braverman is chair of governors at the Michaela Community School,[37] and supports plans to create a free school in Fareham.[38] She sits on the advisory board of the New Schools Network, a charity which aims to support groups setting up free schools within the English state education sector.[39] Braverman is a member of the Triratna Buddhist Community (formerly known as the Friends of the Western Buddhist Order), and attends the London Buddhist Centre monthly.[40]

gollark: They're on the ground.
gollark: ... *how*?
gollark: Earth is quite big, so you would need to cool it down a lot.
gollark: Radiating heat into space to cool Earth sounds impractical.
gollark: Many things are on Netflix.

References
  1. George, David (28 February 2018). "Passion for politics sparks MP's romance". The News. Portsmouth: JPIMedia. Retrieved 12 April 2018.
  2. "No. 61230". The London Gazette. 18 May 2015. p. 9122.
    - "Fareham". BBC News. 7 May 2015. Archived from the original on 30 December 2016.
    - "Fareham". BBC News. 8 June 2017. Archived from the original on 28 June 2017.
  3. "Supplement on Suella Fernandes". Goan Voice UK. Retrieved 27 April 2018.
  4. "Supplement on Uma Fernandes". Goan Voice UK. Retrieved 27 April 2018.
  5. "From refugees to Parliament: The Goan experience". The Times of India. 13 September 2015. Retrieved 27 April 2018.
    - "UK: Goan-origin British MP Suella Fernandes and Narayana Murthy's son-in-law appointed to cabinet". Scroll.in. 10 January 2018. Retrieved 27 April 2018.
    - "Three Goans elected to UK Parliament". The Times of India. 9 May 2015. Retrieved 27 April 2018.
    - "Three Goan-origin MPs elected to UK Parliament". oHeraldo. 9 May 2015. Retrieved 27 April 2018.
  6. "About Suella". Suella Fernandes. Retrieved 8 April 2017.
  7. McGauran, Ann (2 July 2015). "Who's on the new education select committee?". Schools Week. Retrieved 8 April 2017.
  8. "Fernandes, Sue-Ellen Cassiana, (Suella)". Who's Who 2017. A & C Black. Retrieved 22 March 2017.
  9. Iziren, Adeline (30 April 2005). "What happened next?". The Guardian. Guardian News and Media.
  10. Arthur, Sylvia (6 September 2003). "The road to No 10". The Guardian. Guardian News and Media.
  11. "Suella Fernandes – Planning & Environment". No5. Retrieved 27 April 2017.
  12. "Parliamentary candidates to watch". Insight Consulting Group (ICG). Retrieved 27 April 2017.
  13. "Election Data 2005". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
  14. Rigby, Elizabeth (10 December 2014). "Being brown and a woman handicaps candidate says Tory". Financial Times. Retrieved 25 August 2015.
  15. Aldridge, Alex (26 April 2012). "Vote for me, I'm a lawyer". The Guardian.
  16. "London assembly election results 2012". The Guardian. 8 May 2012. Retrieved 18 July 2020.
  17. Hawkins, Oliver; et al. (28 July 2015). General Election 2015 (Briefing Number CBP7186). House of Commons Library.
  18. "New MP for Fareham pledges her commitment in her maiden speech". The News (Portsmouth). 2 June 2015.
  19. Articles:
  20. "Suella Fernandes MP". UK Parliament.
  21. "Joint Select Committee: Draft Investigatory Powers Bill Joint Committee – membership". UK Parliament.
  22. "APPG on Financial Education for Young People Report Launch in Parliament". Young Enterprise.
  23. "The Commissioners". Conmission on Equality in Education. Social Market Foundation.
  24. "Armed Forces Parliamentary Scheme graduation". Suella Braverman. Retrieved 28 May 2020.
  25. Campbell, Loughlan (26 May 2016). "Debate to be held at Westminster on criticised NHS Trust". The News (Portsmouth).
  26. "Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). United Kingdom: Westminster Hall. 8 June 2016.
  27. "Fareham MP chairs Southern Health meeting in Parliament". ITV News. 18 January 2016. Retrieved 3 July 2017.
  28. "New Inquiry to examine how Government can protect rights of EU citizens in UK". British Future. August 2016.
  29. "Why I will be voting to leave the EU", Suella Braverman website, 23 February 2016
  30. "Brexit: Fareham result and reaction". The News (Portsmouth). June 2016.
  31. "Interview: The double-hatted Suella Fernandes – both a member of the Government and a pro-Leave group leader". Conservative Home. Retrieved 31 July 2017.
    - Stewart, Heather (7 September 2017). "Pro-leave MPs prepare public statement insistent on hard Brexit". The Guardian. Guardian News and Media. Retrieved 17 September 2017.
  32. "Parliamentary Private Secretaries: full list". Conservative Home. Retrieved 31 July 2017.
  33. "Suella Fernandes MP". GOV.UK. UK Government. Retrieved 9 January 2018.
  34. Yandell, Chris (15 November 2018). "Suella Braverman, Tory MP for Fareham, resigns her government post over proposed Northern Ireland Backstop". Southern Daily Echo. Retrieved 16 November 2018.
  35. "'Tory MP criticised for using antisemitic term 'cultural Marxism'". The Guardian. Guardian Media Group. 27 March 2019.
    - "What is cultural Marxism? The alt-right meme in Suella Braverman's speech in Westminster'". The New Statesman. The New Statesman. 27 March 2019.
  36. "Tory MP Suella Braverman 'not in any way antisemitic', says Board after 'productive meeting'". The Jewish Chronicle. 3 April 2019. Retrieved 3 April 2019.
  37. Fernandes, Suella (16 September 2015). "Jeremy Corbyn should join our crusade for better education". The Daily Telegraph. Telegraph Media Group. Retrieved 6 July 2016.
  38. Barber, Kimberley (11 December 2015). "Volunteers wanted to bring A-levels back in to town". The News. Portsmouth: Johnston Publishing. Retrieved 6 July 2016.
    - Campbell, Loughlan (8 June 2016). "Bid for new Fareham school to offer A-levels pushed back to 2018". The News. Portsmouth: Johnston Publishing. Retrieved 6 July 2016.
  39. "Advisory Council". New Schools Network. Retrieved 22 March 2017.
  40. Doward, Jamie (15 February 2020). "Attorney general Suella Braverman belongs to controversial Buddhist sect". The Guardian. Guardian Media Group. Retrieved 15 February 2020.
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
Mark Hoban		 Member of Parliament
for Fareham
2015–present		 Incumbent
Political offices
Preceded by
Geoffrey Cox		 Attorney General for England and Wales
2020–present		 Incumbent
Advocate General for Northern Ireland
2020–present
Other offices
Preceded by
Steve Baker		 Chair of the European Research Group
2017–2018		 Succeeded by
Jacob Rees-Mogg
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