Suella Braverman was slapped down by James Cleverly as the pair got involved in a social media spat about immigration and asylum policy.
Braverman is one of a few ex-Tories who have tried to wash their hands with the party in recent years in the hope that people forget the role they played in the disastrous 14 years of Conservative rule.
But it seems that the only person forgetting about her actions as home secretary under Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak is Braverman herself.
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Just days after criticising an Afghan resettlement scheme that she had previously said she was proud of as home secretary, Braverman has once again suffered a bout of amnesia about her time in government.
It all started over the weekend when Nigel Farage shared a clip from James Cleverly’s constituency of Braintree, which showed a group of asylum seekers sitting on the street.
Farage shared the video with the caption: “Just another day in James Cleverly’s constituency. Unless we get a Reform government, every town in Britain will look like this.”
Tory shadow minister Cleverly replied to Farage: “Wait until Nigel finds out that these people are in Braintree because Suella Braverman and Rob Jenrick opened an asylum accommodation centre in my constituency.
“Where are Rob and Suella now?”
Braverman then decided to butt into the argument by telling Cleverly that he had succeeded her as home secretary, and asking why he hadn’t closed down the centre after he replaced her.
It was promptly pointed out to Braverman by Cleverly and several others that ministers have to recuse themselves from decisions that would directly benefit themselves or their constituencies.
Cleverly replied to his former Tory colleague: “Have you never read the Ministerial Code?
“Are you not aware that ministers have to recuse themselves from decisions that would directly benefit themselves or their constituencies? Also I spent most of my time as Home Secretary clearing up the mess you left.”
Braverman was also hit with a community note under her post explaining the same point about the Ministerial Code.
Predictably, Braverman chose to ignore this point, instead telling Cleverly he should be “apologising to the country.”
She wrote: “You should be apologising to the country for being one of those Tories who objected to leaving the ECHR- which is why the last Tory government failed to stop the boats.
“You should be apologising to the country for refusing the ban the IRGC – the source of extremism and terrorism in the UK.
“You should be apologising to the country for opening talks with Mauritius on Chagos. The country is still clearing up the mess you left.”
The spat is the latest sign that Reform are feeling the pressure at the moment.
With the parliamentary investigation into Farage’s £5m gift back underway, people on all sides finding flaws in Reform’s outlandish policy announcements, reports of division within the party over Zia Yusuf and the party stalling in the polls, the cracks might be starting to show.