Suella Braverman: Who is Attorney general Suella Braverman making a bid for leadership as Boris Johnson stands down?

Ms Braverman has served as Attorney General since February of 2020.

As Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced he will step down among a flurry of more than 50 Tory resignations, jostling for the leadership has already begun.

Attorney General Suella Braverman is still in her role, despite calling for the Prime Minister to quit and saying she will stand in the contest to replace him. Ms Braverman said the Government was "technically" still functioning but told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "The facts are undeniable, he can't command the confidence of sufficient numbers of people to serve in his government, he can't engender the support of the parliamentary party."

The Attorney General, who on Wednesday night called on Boris Johnson to resign, said she is not planning to quit: “For example, myself, I am in a role which is of constitutional and legal significance,” she said. “I am still in situ, I am still discharging those duties and those functions in my capacity as a Government minister.”

She also revealed that she has not personally spoken to Mr Johnson to tell him to resign: “I haven’t actually spoken to him directly. I have informed the whips of my view. But it seems to me that yesterday there were a lot of people telling the Prime Minister directly this very message.”

Ms Braverman also defended her previous allegiance to Boris Johnson, stressing that things have changed in recent days that have now made his position untenable: “Circumstances have dramatically changed in the last 48 hours. I’ve constantly supported the Prime Minister in a steadfast fashion,” the Attorney General told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

She denied she is behaving opportunistically, saying “the writing’s on the wall. I can’t fight the evidence and the facts we’ve had.”

As Johnson’s time as Prime Minister draws to a close, here’s a look at the Attorney General making it clear she’s keen to follow him into the role.

Britain's Attorney General Suella Braverman leaves at the end of a cabinet meeting in Downing Street on July 5th. Photo: JUSTIN TALLIS / AFP via Getty Images.

Who is Attorney General Suella Braverman?

Ms Braverman studied at Cambridge University and completed an Erasmus year in France, before completing a master’s degree in European and French law at Pantheon-Sorbonne University. She then went on to specialise in commercial litigation, judicial review, immigration and planning law at No5 Chambers in London.

She then made the move into politics in 2005, when Ms Braverman contested Leicester East. Although she lost out to Labour candidate Keith Vaz, she was eventually selected as the Conservative candidate in Fareham and elected to the House of Commons as Fareham MP in 2015, winning 56.1% of the vote.

Attorney General Suella Braverman during a regional cabinet meeting at Middleport Pottery in Stoke on Trent on May 12th. Photo: Oli Scarff/PA.

In the reshuffle on February 13th, 2020, Ms 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. She was criticised at the time for her lack of experience and later, by members of the Bar Council, for her poor choices in the role.

In terms of her political history, Ms Braverman is a hardline Brexiteer and stands on the right wing of the Conservative Party. She supported the controversial decision to send migrants to Rwanda.

Ms Braverman describes herself as “a child of the British Empire”, with parents from Mauritius and Kenya. She has described the British Empire as a force for good.

Suella Braverman net worth

Although Ms Braverman’s salary is not officially known, her net worth is approximately between £1 million and £1.5 million, according to Celebrity Net Worth.

Additional reporting by PA.