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hago 14.47 GMT

'Horrible' - Labour MPs criticise Tory HQ for suggesting
Braverman's mental health factor in her defection

Labour MPs have condemned Tory HQ for suggesting that Suella
Braverman’s mental health played a role in her decision to defect to Reform
UK. (See 1.41pm.)

‘This is from Mike Tapp, a Home Office minister.

44 I have no sympathy for Suella Braverman when it comes to politics and what
she did to our immigration system.

But the Tories attacking her mental health is below the standards we expect.
British values are strong but decent, firm but fair. Neither the Tories nor Reform
signup to that.

‘This is from Josh Fenton-Glynn.

44 This statement is horrible. Attacking someone on mental health is wrong.
The whole thing reads as petty and churlish. The kind of first draft of an email
you do before having a cup of tea and letting your better angels take over.
hago 14.47 GMT 'Horrible' - Labour MPs criticise Tory HQ for suggesting Braverman's mental health factor in her defection Labour MPs have condemned Tory HQ for suggesting that Suella Braverman’s mental health played a role in her decision to defect to Reform UK. (See 1.41pm.) ‘This is from Mike Tapp, a Home Office minister. 44 I have no sympathy for Suella Braverman when it comes to politics and what she did to our immigration system. But the Tories attacking her mental health is below the standards we expect. British values are strong but decent, firm but fair. Neither the Tories nor Reform signup to that. ‘This is from Josh Fenton-Glynn. 44 This statement is horrible. Attacking someone on mental health is wrong. The whole thing reads as petty and churlish. The kind of first draft of an email you do before having a cup of tea and letting your better angels take over.
hago 14.47 GMT

'Horrible' - Labour MPs criticise Tory HQ for suggesting
Braverman's mental health factor in her defection

Labour MPs have condemned Tory HQ for suggesting that Suella
Braverman’s mental health played a role in her decision to defect to Reform
UK. (See 1.41pm.)

‘This is from Mike Tapp, a Home Office minister.

44 I have no sympathy for Suella Braverman when it comes to politics and what
she did to our immigration system.

But the Tories attacking her mental health is below the standards we expect.
British values are strong but decent, firm but fair. Neither the Tories nor Reform
signup to that.

‘This is from Josh Fenton-Glynn.

44 This statement is horrible. Attacking someone on mental health is wrong.
The whole thing reads as petty and churlish. The kind of first draft of an email
you do before having a cup of tea and letting your better angels take over.
hago 14.47 GMT 'Horrible' - Labour MPs criticise Tory HQ for suggesting Braverman's mental health factor in her defection Labour MPs have condemned Tory HQ for suggesting that Suella Braverman’s mental health played a role in her decision to defect to Reform UK. (See 1.41pm.) ‘This is from Mike Tapp, a Home Office minister. 44 I have no sympathy for Suella Braverman when it comes to politics and what she did to our immigration system. But the Tories attacking her mental health is below the standards we expect. British values are strong but decent, firm but fair. Neither the Tories nor Reform signup to that. ‘This is from Josh Fenton-Glynn. 44 This statement is horrible. Attacking someone on mental health is wrong. The whole thing reads as petty and churlish. The kind of first draft of an email you do before having a cup of tea and letting your better angels take over.
The murders of unarmed civilians on the streets
of Minneapolis, including of Alex Pretti, would not come as a
shock to Iraqis in Fallujah or Afghans in Helmand province -
terrorized by US execution squads for decades.

It would not come as a shock to any of the students | teach
in prison. Militarized police in poor urban neighborhoods kick
down doors without warrants & kill with the same impunity.
What the rest of us are facing now is what Aimé Césaire
called "imperial boomerang.” Decaying empires employ the
same savage forms of control at home as they do abroad.
With the collapse of Athenian democracy, the tyranny Athens
imposed on others, it finally imposed on itself.

But before we became the victims of state terror, we were
accomplices. Before we expressed moral outrage at the
indiscriminate taking of innocent lives, we tolerated, & often
celebrated, the same Gestapo tactics directed at those who
lived in the nations we occupied or poor people of color.

We sowed the wind, now we will reap the whirlwind. The
machinery of terror, perfected on those we abandoned &
betrayed, including the Palestinians in Gaza, is ready for us.
Chris Hedges, 25 Jan 2026 (abridged)
The murders of unarmed civilians on the streets of Minneapolis, including of Alex Pretti, would not come as a shock to Iraqis in Fallujah or Afghans in Helmand province - terrorized by US execution squads for decades. It would not come as a shock to any of the students | teach in prison. Militarized police in poor urban neighborhoods kick down doors without warrants & kill with the same impunity. What the rest of us are facing now is what Aimé Césaire called "imperial boomerang.” Decaying empires employ the same savage forms of control at home as they do abroad. With the collapse of Athenian democracy, the tyranny Athens imposed on others, it finally imposed on itself. But before we became the victims of state terror, we were accomplices. Before we expressed moral outrage at the indiscriminate taking of innocent lives, we tolerated, & often celebrated, the same Gestapo tactics directed at those who lived in the nations we occupied or poor people of color. We sowed the wind, now we will reap the whirlwind. The machinery of terror, perfected on those we abandoned & betrayed, including the Palestinians in Gaza, is ready for us. Chris Hedges, 25 Jan 2026 (abridged)
The murders of unarmed civilians on the streets
of Minneapolis, including of Alex Pretti, would not come as a
shock to Iraqis in Fallujah or Afghans in Helmand province -
terrorized by US execution squads for decades.

It would not come as a shock to any of the students | teach
in prison. Militarized police in poor urban neighborhoods kick
down doors without warrants & kill with the same impunity.
What the rest of us are facing now is what Aimé Césaire
called "imperial boomerang.” Decaying empires employ the
same savage forms of control at home as they do abroad.
With the collapse of Athenian democracy, the tyranny Athens
imposed on others, it finally imposed on itself.

But before we became the victims of state terror, we were
accomplices. Before we expressed moral outrage at the
indiscriminate taking of innocent lives, we tolerated, & often
celebrated, the same Gestapo tactics directed at those who
lived in the nations we occupied or poor people of color.

We sowed the wind, now we will reap the whirlwind. The
machinery of terror, perfected on those we abandoned &
betrayed, including the Palestinians in Gaza, is ready for us.
Chris Hedges, 25 Jan 2026 (abridged)
The murders of unarmed civilians on the streets of Minneapolis, including of Alex Pretti, would not come as a shock to Iraqis in Fallujah or Afghans in Helmand province - terrorized by US execution squads for decades. It would not come as a shock to any of the students | teach in prison. Militarized police in poor urban neighborhoods kick down doors without warrants & kill with the same impunity. What the rest of us are facing now is what Aimé Césaire called "imperial boomerang.” Decaying empires employ the same savage forms of control at home as they do abroad. With the collapse of Athenian democracy, the tyranny Athens imposed on others, it finally imposed on itself. But before we became the victims of state terror, we were accomplices. Before we expressed moral outrage at the indiscriminate taking of innocent lives, we tolerated, & often celebrated, the same Gestapo tactics directed at those who lived in the nations we occupied or poor people of color. We sowed the wind, now we will reap the whirlwind. The machinery of terror, perfected on those we abandoned & betrayed, including the Palestinians in Gaza, is ready for us. Chris Hedges, 25 Jan 2026 (abridged)