Posted in: Comics, Comics Publishers, Current News, Marvel Comics, X-Men | Tagged: Betsy Braddock, captain britain, Home Secretary, Suella Braverman

Captain Britain Vs The Home Secretary Of The British Government

In X-Men Infinity Unlimited, Betsy Braddock, Captain Britain, is giving it large to the Home Secretary for establishing internment camps.

Published Wed, 07 Feb 2024 08:27:09 -0600

by Rich Johnston

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Article Summary

Home Secretary role's turnover highlighted, with Suella Braverman's controversial tenure and policies.
Captain Britain's storyline in X-Men comics parallels current UK politics, criticising internment camps.
Betsy Braddock as Captain Britain confronts the government's mutant policies in X-Men Unlimited #125.
Marvel's issue weaves real political events into the narrative, mirroring the UK's anti-mutant stance.

The Home Secretary is one of the top jobs in British politics, alongside the Prime Minister, Chancellor Of The Exchequer, Foreign Secretary and Mayor Of London. Of late, we have had quite a few. Things were fairly normal, relatively at least, until 2019 when then-Home Secretary Sajid Javid MP was made Chancellor and replaced by Priti Patel MP and the rhetoric took a significant swing to the anti-immigrant right. She lasted until September 2022, when she resigned after former Prime Minister Boris Johnson MP was ousted and ahead of the expected appointment of Liz Truss MP as Prime Minister, who appointed Suella Braverman MP as Home Secretary, who lasted as less than Truss did, around 5 weeks, but pushed the rhetoric further. She resigned in October after sharing an official document from her personal email address with a colleague in Parliament, breaching the Ministerial Code. She was replaced by Grant Schappes MP for the remainder of Truss' time in office, a massive six days, before Suella was brought back by the new Prime Minister Rishi Sunak MP at the end of October. And there she stayed, with the policy of sending asylum seekers to Rwanda, commissioning offshore ships to hold asylum seekers, describing immigrants as invaders, and was eventually sacked by the Prime Minister in November the following year after writing an opinion piece in The Times newspaper stating that senior British police officers were tougher on right-wing extremists than pro-Palestinian "mobs". The Prime Minister's Office had asked for changes to be made to the article, but Braverman didn't make them. James Cleverly MP was appointed Home Secretary, who has continued the policies but has "cleverly" been less outspoken on every hot-button topic concerning them.

Marvel Comics — Photo by **Marcus Jamieson-Pond** of JamPondPhotography, used with permission

Indeed, at the recent Political Cartoon Of The Year Awards, shortly after her second firing, I got to meet Suella Braverman MP. Here she is posing with a cartoon I'd previously drawn of her, beheaded by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak in the fashion of Caravaggio's Salome. It was a very strange night. You can find some video evidence here.

But what's all this got to do with today's X-Men comic books? Well, in the Krakoan Age, Great Britain was allied with Russia over their rejection of the Krakoan accords, swapping mutant medecine for diplomatic right. The country has beem taken over by the Orchis aligned Morgan Le Fey and the Coven Akkaba, a group of magicians who once served Apocalypse, believing that their magic would make them equal to mutants in Apocalypse's eyes. They were wrong, Apocalypse rejected them and Coven Akkaba became an anti-mutant group. And one who managed to get elected to power through popuilist anti-mutant policies. Presumably stopping the Krakoan boats.

In recent issues of X-Men Infinity Unlimited on Marvel Unlimited, we saw Betsy Braddock being interviewed by, well, either GB News or TalkTV, take your pick. In today's X-Men Unlimited #125, two weeks later, it looks like the interview is still going on. And Betsy Braddock giving it large to the Home Secretary for establishing internment camps for mutants in Great Britain.

Basically, the Bibby Stockholm shipping containers, but for the mutant population of Great Britain, those who weren't banished from the mutabt island of Krakoa to Mars, or beyond. In the Marvel Universe, it seems as if Suella is still in charge.

Basically, Britain has gone to the full Sir James Jaspers Bad Moon rising storyline from Alan Moore, Alan Davis in Captain Britain, back in the early eighties. But no mass hypnosis needed. Betsy Braddock has been through all this before…

And this time she actually is Captain Britain. So it's not about running and hiding. It's about taking it to those in charge. In Downing Street.

Just like her brother tried to do last time… of course that was with the most powerful mutant Sir James Jaspers in charge.

Rishi Sunak may not quite have those reality shaping abilities. Though he is doing a pretty good attempt at it… X-Men Unlimited Infinity #125 by Steve Orlando, Steve Foxe, Nick Roche, Yen Nitro and Travis Lanham is published now on Marvel Unlimited.