London: British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s leadership of the governing Conservative Party is facing turmoil on Thursday after a bruising Cabinet resignation and open attacks by backbenchers over his government’s controversial policy to deport illegal migrants to Rwanda.
The 43-year-old British Indian prime minister is caught in the middle of two strands within his party, one on the extreme right voiced by sacked home secretary
Suella Braverman calling for an extreme agenda to override legal challenges and the other more centrist view of the UK not being seen to breach its human rights obligations.
The clash came to a head on Wednesday night
when Robert Jenrick, someone seen as a Sunak ally, resigned as his Immigration Minister, declaring that his boss’ new Safety of Rwanda Bill designed to override a Supreme Court block “does not go far enough”.
“I cannot continue in my position when I have such strong disagreements with the direction of the
government’s policy on immigration,” wrote Jenrick in his resignation
letter to Sunak.