Suella Braverman goes full Donald Trump in bizarre speech to MAGA group comparing UK to Iran

Suella Braverman went full MAGA and compared the UK to Iran, in a wild and fawning speech to a Donald Trump-backing US group today.

The former Home Secretary suggested Britain could become “the first Islamist nation with nuclear weapons”, with the UK falling “into the hands of Muslim fundamentalism” within 20 years.

Muslims currently make up 6.7% of the UK population.

She also took aim at her own Conservative Party colleagues during the address to the Heritage Foundation, a Washington DC think-tank credited with drawing up the blueprint for Trump’s second Presidency.

The speech was billed as the “Margaret Thatcher Freedom Lecture” – a speech last year delivered by Liz Truss.

Ms Braverman spent much of the speech painting a dystopian vision of Britain, claiming “our jewels of liberty, aspiration and prosperity lie buried under the weight of socialism, the shackles of political correctness and the feebleness of our political class.”

And she claimed the UK was looking “enviously” at the US after the re-election of Trump, “from the doghouse of international relations.”

In the most baffling passage of the speech, Ms Braverman told attendees “progressive thinking” is losing across the world – but warned “democracy” could be “thwarted by the existing political class”.

“Vice President JD Vance said, at the National Conservative conference at which I also spoke in the summer, that the UK was going to be the first Islamist nation with nuclear weapons,” she said.

“I don’t think he was joking. Is it an impossibility that 20 years from now, it will be the UK, not China or Russia, that will emerge as the greatest strategic threat to the USA?

“Born out of a broken relationship and weak leadership. What happens if the UK falls into the hands of Muslim fundamentalism, our legal system gets substituted by Sharia Law and our nuclear capabilities vest in a regime not to dissimilar to that of Iran today?”

Ms Braverman, whom many have expected to defect to Reform UK, went on to moan that she had been “thwarted” by her own party when she tried to repair “the damage that uncontrolled mass immigration was having on our country.”

She said: “What was staggering was that I was actually blocked by fellow Conservatives in the Cabinet and in my party. You could call them Conservatives in Name Only (CHINOS) (I think you know them as RINOS here).

“You see, too many of my fellow Conservatives- and they don’t like hearing this, but I will keep saying it until I see that my party has changed- have historically seen high immigration as good for the economy.”

She complained Tory MPs “took the knee after George Floyd, confessed to white privilege, declared that a trans-woman is a woman and said that talking about the rape gangs was Islamophobic.”

Ms Braverman claimed “many conservative politicians were campaigning for Kamala” – before noting she had declared support for Trump before the election.

Meanwhile Ms Braverman spent much of the speech fawning over President Trump, saying his Presidency – just 8 days in – was “generation-defining” – and under his leadership America would once again be “the shining city upon a Hill to which the UK and indeed the world will once again look for leadership, for courage, for freedom.”

Suella Braverman’s unhinged MAGA speech in full

I want to start by thanking The Heritage Foundation for your principled leadership over so many years. You have been the brightest of beacons for liberty, for aspiration and for prosperity. Whether it is Project 2025 or forging close alliances across the Atlantic, Heritage stands like a giant, towering over the policy think tank landscape and I know you will continue to play a critical role in the fight for freedom in the decade ahead.

I stand behind countless individuals who have come before me from Natan Sharanskey, to Pulitzer Prize winner Charles Krauthammer to the most recent, Liz Truss, who have all had the honour of delivering the annual Margaret Thatcher Freedom Lecture here in Washington DC. Liberty, aspiration and prosperity have been in short supply in the last four years in America. But like precious jewels recovered from the rubble of a disaster, they can be dusted down. Pull away the cobwebs and the brush down the dirt and you’ll see what was always there, but obscured: the glowing light of the genius of the American people, their common sense and fairness and their aching desire to get on and move forward, to make a better life for themselves, their families and their communities.

As Reverend Sewell put it so passionately during President Trump’s benediction at the inauguration.

‘From every state, every city, every village, and every hamlet, let freedom ring’.

And it’s about that dawn of freedom that I want to speak with you today.

And that’s exactly what is happening with President Trump returning to the White House.

The United States is once again the shining city upon a Hill to which the UK and indeed the world will once again look for leadership, for courage, for freedom.

For us in the United Kingdom, our jewels of liberty, aspiration and prosperity lie buried under the weight of socialism, the shackles of political correctness and the feebleness of our political class. It’s now for us in the UK to look enviously from the outside in, from the doghouse of international relations.

As the world seems to be waking up from its woke nightmare, be it The United States, Italy or Argentina, we in the UK have a government that is more anti- freedom, anti-aspiration, anti- hope, and anti-opportunity than ever before.

The contrast couldn’t be starker. As other countries rediscover the keys to economic growth, we in the UK stand on the brink of recession, job losses and businesses going bust.

Under Keir Starmer, the UK is now more likely than ever to worship at the altar of punitive net zero policies, bend the knee at the cross of a distorted notion of human rights and submit to the will of supranational institutions rather than sticking up for the UK’s national security and long- term allies.

And that is why and I regret to say so, but as Donald Trump assumes office for this generation- defining presidency and Keir Starmer stumbles from one crisis to another, it is abundantly clear that the historic and much-vaunted special relationship between the UK and US- one which has endured since the horrors of World War II, was strengthened during the Cold War and formed the defining alliance against Islamist terrorism after 9/11- now lies in tatters. And it was our Labour Government that has broken it.

Just as President Trump is finally taking a hard-headed stance against the oppressive regimes around the world, Keir Starmer is nowhere to be seen. In the battle for civilisation, the UK has gone AWOL under Labour.

On China, while Trump has made clear that tariffs will be applied, has applied visa restrictions on students and blamed China for the pandemic and collusion with Russa on Ukraine, Starmer has instead sent his Chancellor begging to Beijing, looks set to approve the mega Chinese spy HQ London, fails to implement vital national security measures like the Foreign Influence Registration Scheme, and turns a blind eye to the genocide of the Hiughurs and the unprecedented hostility from the Chinese towards Taiwan and the Phillipines. Whilst the US will gradually wean itself off Chinese dependency, the UK only appeases the Chinese, and prefers to surrender sovereign UK territory in the form of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius, playing into China’s hands by giving them an important strategic advantage in the Indian Ocean. Labour is betraying the United Kingdom and the United States.

On the Middle East, as the new Trump administration took immediate steps to curtail Hamas’ brutality- with their leaders being ejected by Qatar and hostages released- although we keep working and fighting for all of them to be released, and stopping all UNWRA funding – this Labour government reinstated British taxpayer funding to UNWRA- the wholly discredited UN agency which has been complicit in the October 7th attacks. Under Labour, the UK government is supporting the vexatious arrest warrants issued by the politicised International Criminal Court against Israeli politicians, has pledged to recognise a Palestinian state and imposed an arms embargo on Israel. In taking these perverse steps Starmer and Lammy have shown themselves to be Hamas’ useful idiots, to stand on the wrong side of history and on the wrong side of Trump.

Or take Iran- we know that Trump has no patience with the Ayatollahs in Tehran who, under Biden, sprawled out of control by funding islamist extremism around the world and their nuclear bomb programme. But under Labour, we have a government that has failed to proscribe the IRGC- the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps- the head of the snake when it comes to global terrorism.

On defence spending, Trump has electrified NATO members by demanding 5% of GDP to go towards military budgets. Finally- someone has said it. After decades of underinvestment by the UK and an ailing army, depleted navy and under-equipped air force, the UK needs to follow suit immediately. Of course it does. But under Starmer, all we offer to the world’s security is a half-hearted promise to get to 2.5% by 2032. It’s complacent, naive and dangerous.

On the international order, Trump is putting the sovereign national interest first. He recognises that the multilateral, globalist structures of the WEF, the UN and the Davos cliques have had their day; and are actively harming our people. Whilst he pulls out of the corrupt, conflicted and incompetent World Health Organisation, the UK is increasing its funding to this outmoded organisation. Whilst Trump is reinforcing your southern border and demanding that other countries do their fair share in the global migration crisis, Starmer worships at the altar of the Strasbourg Human Rights Court and scraps the Rwanda scheme which would have stopped the boats. Whilst Trump deports thousands, Starmer appoints an Attorney General who would rather represent Gerry Adams and Shamima Begum than put the UK national interest first. It’s why I keep arguing that the UK must leave the European Convention of Human Rights, scrap the Human Rights Act and the Equality Act is we are to fix the crisis on our southern border. Of course, Starmer won’t do that.

Today, the world finds itself in a battle. Between authoritarianism and democracy. Between an alliance of Russia, China, Iran and North Korea and the West. Exacerbated by globalisation and a migration crisis. Trump gets that. I get that. Those of us in this room see it. But Starmer just doesn’t understand how exposed we are. How fragile democracy is right now. How perilous our freedoms are. Up until last Monday, I wasn’t sure which side was going to win. But now, I have more hope that western civilisation will prevail- but the fight is far from over.

Or on matters more close to home, our Prime Minister could not be more at odds with your President. On net zero, Trump’s agenda is clear: drill, baby drill- focussed on oil, gas and fossil fuels as a way to increase self-sufficiency and lower energy prices for the American people. But on our side of the pond, Militant Miliband is an eco-extremist who is intent on plastering our countryside with solar panels, imposing heat pumps in every house, refusing licences for north sea oil and gas and allowing the closure of our gas blast furnaces. He doesn’t seem to care if we run out of energy (which we nearly did a few weeks ago) or if it bankrupts the British people.

Whilst a US-UK Free Trade Deal was drafted by the previous Conservative government and could be negotiated, we have Labour Ministers more interested in undoing Brexit and re- joining the Customs Union with the declining EU. Whilst the smart world leaders are pivoting towards the USA, Starmer turns away.

And of course, I’ve not mentioned the eloquence of our Labour ministers when it comes to Trump. Our Foreign Secretary called him a racist KKK and a new-nazi sympathising sociopath and our London Mayor, just last week trotted that well-worn smear of fascist. Most of the Cabinet voted to ban Trump from making a state visit to the UK. So no wonder, Secretary Rubio didn’t even bother to call our Foreign Secretary upon his appointment. No wonder no Labour Member of the government was invited to the Inauguration. The UK-US special relationship is broken. And Labour broke it.

And no wonder the special relationship lies in tatters. Because freedom is in crisis in the UK. Superficially, of course, we have an electoral system, democracy and the rule of law. But look under the surface and our liberties are being shaken to the core. Because in the UK, we are in our own battle. A battle for courage and common sense. Fighting against the forces of appeasement and progressivism.

In the UK, we have leaders who are more interested in not offending ‘minorities’ than speaking the truth about industrial scale rape gangs. We have a police force that will spend more time checking whether your social media comments might be offensive than turning up to burglaries. We have schools with teachers who believe fervently that boys can be girls and girls can be boys and public institutions enabling this distorted ideology to devastate our childrens’ minds and lives. We have leaders who will focus on covering up the truth about the terrorist aspects of the murder of the 3 young girls in Southport, and arresting those people who were angry about the murder; than looking at why Islamist extremism has been allowed to take root in many of our communities in the UK. The UK is now a country where antisemitism has become normalised on our campuses, on our streets through the hate marches and is enabled by authorities rather than policed. And we have an economic weakness that has permeated into our nation’s fabric, grown into every facet of our lives, so that now the number of people in the UK- and indeed the West- that are sick, both physically and psychologically is beyond comprehension. We have been demoralised over decades to such an extent that a sentient, intelligent species such as ours, capable of untold greatness, has been reduced to question an unassailable truth, its own biology.

As Home Secretary, every single day I fought to put Britain first. I saw the damage that uncontrolled mass immigration was having on our country.

And when I tried to do something about it, through a strong border, I was challenged by by the usual left-wing opponents. That’s par for the course. But what was staggering, was that I was actually blocked by fellow Conservatives in the Cabinet and in my party. You could call them Conservatives in Name Only (CHINOS) (I think you know them as RINOS here). You see, too many of my fellow Conservatives- and they don’t like hearing this, but I will keep saying it until I see that my party has changed- have historically seen high immigration as good for the economy. They’ve failed to grasp that GDP has been sluggish for pretty much the whole chapter

of record immigration and they have chosen to overlook the really important metric, GDP per capita. Never mind the costs of spiralling low cost low skilled migration on our public services and communities. And they have been scared of tackling the Empire of Human Rights that stopped us from deporting illegal migrants to Rwanda and they swallowed the woke kool-aid for too often. Conservative MPs took the knee after George Floyd, confessed to white privilege, declared that a transwoman is a woman, and said that talking about the Rape Gangs was Islamophobic. Even just a few months ago, too many Conservative politicians were campaigning for Kamala. As one of the very few Tories who actually declared support for Trump before the election (there’s a lot of them who have appeared now that Trump won, intriguingly)- you can imagine the vitriol I received- you’ve all got the battle scars too.

But one example sums up the malaise of the UK right now. Thousands of girls, in towns and cities around the UK, like Rochdale, Rotheram, Oldham, Telford and many more- and it is still going on today- have been targeted, abused and raped by gangs of largely Pakistani Muslim men. And to make matters worse, the authorities failed to stop it because they were scared of being called racist. The police, social workers, teachers, councillors all turned a blind eye out of fear. They took the easy way out- ignoring the victims, sometimes even blaming them, and taking zero action time and time again. All in the name of ‘not wanting to upset community relations’. Thanks to a few brave whistle-blowers and investigative journalists on GB News, the scandal was uncovered. But even as recently as 2023 when I was Home Secretary and chose to visit Rochdale and Rotheram to meet victims and tackle the issue- I was smeared as being racist, even by some Conservatives. In a way, the fear that crippled those who let those girls down was proven right. That didn’t deter me though. I am proud of the specialist Taskforce that I set up at the time which led to over 500 arrests and safeguarded over 4000 victims through its investigations. But to be honest, until Elon Musk came along, it was a taboo in Britain. Until a few weeks ago, there has been an unwritten code in the UK: talk about the Rape Gangs and you will be called Islamophobic. I’m glad that more have found the courage to voice their anger today.

Or take Southport. In response to the brutal murder of three beautiful young girls, aged 6, 7 & 9 last summer, the government covered up the terrorist aspects of the case. The Labour government continues to shamefully deflect blame from the killer himself, onto social media companies and Amazon where the murderer’s weapon, a knife, was acquired.

In the name of multiculturism, politicians of the three main parties have consistently refused to address the elephant in the room. That millions of people coming into the UK do not have its best interests at heart and refuse to assimilate or integrate. Too many immigrants to the UK refuse to learn English, and many do not want to embrace the Judeo-Christian culture that defines the UK, with all of its wonderful freedoms and opportunities.

And the reason I feel so strongly about this, is because I know the power and good Britain brings to the world.

My parents, born under the Empire, came to the UK with nothing. My mother- an 18 year old girl- was recruited to the motherland of Britain from Mauritius to work as a nurse in our National Health Service, and my father came to Britain’s shores from Kenya clutching just his British passport.

A passport that for him, as he stood on the tarmac at Heathrow Airport, aged 19, embodied hope, opportunity, and freedom.

My parents built their life by revering Britain. They had nothing but gratitude and admiration for the British Empire and what our country symbolised to humanity after WW2. They worked hard, they saved and most importantly, they integrated and served. That’s why the mass migration of today makes me so angry. Because it’s everything that Britain and indeed the United States is not.

Too many migrants coming to the UK today just want to ‘take, take, take’, whereas the controlled immigration of yesteryear was much more about giving.

The truth is that Britain has imported a fifth column into its society.

A column that refuses to integrate. Refuses to abide by our laws, our customs, and our values.

And to them I say, your time is up in The United States and your time is coming in The United Kingdom, we have all had enough. That means less rhetoric, enough talk, more action, more arrests, more convictions and yes, more deportations.

Mass Migration is an existential threat to our way of life and to western civilisation and the public be it in the US or the UK have voted time and time again to stop it.

However, there is some hope. The tide of this war has turned. As Churchill said: ‘this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. Perhaps it is the end of the beginning’. Thanks to Trump, free speech, for all its faults, is in the ascendancy. The speed at which DEI and woke institutional policies are crumbling is accelerating and the malfeasance of government, corrupt politicians and the mendacity of the administrative state is being exposed with frequent regularity.

The prevailing consensus of how multiculturalism was nothing but a benefit, is unravelling at pace, along with many far left ideologies. ‘Progressive thinking’ is losing: losing with the young, losing with the old and losing with blue- and white-collar workers alike and instead is being forced to take cover in the liberal enclaves of north London and San Francisco where they weep at the fall of Justin Trudeau, Starmer’s plummeting popularity and the defeat of Kamala Harris.

The re-election of Donald Trump by the American people heralds the potential that this war is winnable. Key questions will emerge. Will this inspire citizens in other nations stuck in the political ideology of the far left to follow suit?

More importantly, what will happen in the West, if it does not? What will happen if democracy is indeed thwarted by the existing political class?

Vice President JD Vance said, at the National Conservative conference at which I also spoke in the summer, that the UK was going to be the first Islamist nation with nuclear weapons. I don’t think he was joking. Is it an impossibility that 20 years from now, it will be the UK, not China or Russia, that will emerge as the greatest strategic threat to the USA? Born out of a broken relationship and weak leadership. What happens if the UK falls into the hands of Muslim fundamentalism, our legal system gets substituted by Sharia Law and our nuclear capabilities vest in a regime not to dissimilar to that of Iran today?

Regardless of whether one thinks this is a realistic outcome, which I do not, should we not have the courage to ask these questions?

But now, thankfully, the tide is beginning to turn towards freedom.

If the freedom revival initiative fails in the USA — we all lose, and the loss would be irrevocable. Technology, digital ID’s, controllable digital currencies, and the absolute power of global institutions paints a dark tapestry of perpetual servitude for the masses. Sprinkle in robots and artificial intelligence, jobs become redundant, the masses have no purpose, the falling birth rates around the world — shrinking of the world’s population and we’re one millimetre away from a ruling class deciding that the masses are indeed superfluous, a drain on precious resources and a cancer on the planet’s ecology and the WEF and Davos’ desire to see population reduction becomes a reality.

If the USA wins? We will once again have freedom, but the US needs allies.

It needs you; it needs us. It may not have Starmer and his woke socialists but he does have a majority of British people on his side. We must find the courage to shout, “Enough is Enough” and act differently — in their communities, at local elections, at national elections?

Because only then will we have freedom.

Freedom is getting up early in the morning and working hard for you and your family without being molested by oversized, bureaucratic government.

Freedom is the land we farm, the schooling of our children and freedom to walk our streets in safety.

Without it, we are mere chattelled slaves and that is not a world I will ever capitulate to advocate.

So let freedom ring.

‘From every state, every city, every village, and every hamlet, let freedom ring’.