Tories were wrong to refer to Braverman’s mental health, says shadow minister

The Tories were wrong to reference Suella Braverman’s mental health in an initial response to her defection to Reform, a shadow minister has said.

The Conservatives were accused of using mental health as a “political football” over their statement on the former home secretary’s switch to Nigel Farage’s party.

The original response included the sentence: “The Conservatives did all we could to look after Suella’s mental health, but she was clearly very unhappy.”

This was removed from a reissued statement sent a few hours later.

Shadow business secretary Andrew Griffith told the Press Association it was a mistake to include the line about Ms Braverman’s state of mind.

He said: “I think that was wrong. We should be here in Westminster competing on the quality of ideas. Who’s got the best plans to restore our great country.

“The party retracted that and they said it was a mistake. Human beings do make mistakes, but it was always wrong to put that in there.”

After her defection on Monday, Fareham and Waterlooville MP Ms Braverman said the Tory response had been “a bit pathetic”, while Mr Farage called the reaction “pretty abusive”.

Brian Dow, deputy chief executive of the Rethink Mental Illness charity, said employers should never disclose any details about the mental health of their employees or former staff.

He said: “Doing so says far more about them than the person they are referring to.

“People living with mental ill-health do not deserve to have their experiences trivialised or used as a political football.”