Suella Braverman is at it once again. This time, the Home Secretary has been having a jolly old time in Rwanda, where the government plans to send anyone who tries to seek asylum in the U.K.
The Home Secretary was in the country on an official visit to look around the housing that will accommodate those who come to the U.K. from both ‘safe’ and war-torn countries. But now, a highly criticized image has begun circulating on social media, in which Braverman can be seen on the roof of a building, presumably one of the homes that could house any of the thousands who will be deported there, laughing.
This isn’t the first of her antics that has left a sour taste in our mouths. She told a holocaust survivor that she would not apologize for the language that she uses when talking about immigrants, despite being told by the survivor how detrimental language can be, and she has said that she “dreams” of seeing the first deportation flight to Rwanda take off, according to The Huffington Post.
However, the Home Office has issued a statement, per Indy100, to insist that the image was cropped and taken out of context: “The image has been cropped and taken clearly out of context. The photo was taken during a visit to see accommodation and opportunities which will be open to asylum seekers relocated to Rwanda through our groundbreaking partnership. The home secretary was welcomed by Rwanda’s minister of education and new construction graduates to modern, long-term accommodation which will support those who settle in Rwanda.”
However, the cropping they’re referring to is simply cropping out other people in the photo, who are also smiling and/or laughing. Either way, Braverman is indeed standing on top of one of the buildings intended to house asylum seekers, laughing uproariously. The presence and participation of others hardly changes the bad optics, on top of the bad underlying reality.
During the visit, where it was claimed that only right-wing papers had been invited and that the trip was funded by taxpayers’ money (both of which were later found to be untrue), Braverman apparently also quipped, “I really like your interior designer. I need some advice for myself.”
She said of the trip, “Rwanda is a progressive, rapidly growing economy at the forefront of innovation – I have thoroughly enjoyed seeing first-hand the rich opportunities this country can provide to relocated people through our partnership.”
This comes, too, after Braverman criticized soccer pundit Gary Linekar’s tweets over the Rwanda asylum seeker atrocity in which he said that the government’s language about those who need to flee their countries was comparable to Nazi Germany in the 1930s. She commented, “I think it’s unhelpful to compare our measures which are lawful, proportionate and compassionate to 1930s Germany.”
But whether the comparison is unhelpful or not, as long as the Tories continue with the Rwanda plan, it’s very much still there.
(featured image: Leon Neal/Getty Images)
