The Cambridge Union has released its Lent 2024 term card, which includes a speaker event with former Home Secretary Suella Braverman.

The society will host 16  speaker events this term, including Speaker of the House of Commons Sir Lindsay Hoyle, restaurateur and TV personality Marco Pierre White, and founder of Arsenal Fan TV Robbie Lyle.

Suella Braverman, whose visit is yet to be given a date, served two stints as Home Secretary in 2022 and 2023. Braverman resigned from the post after breaching the ministerial code, before being removed from the position during her second tenure in the November cabinet reshuffle, following a Times opinion piece in which she accused the police of “play[ing] favourites” with pro-Palestinian protesters.

Braverman was a strong advocate for the Government’s Rwanda policy, and faced cross-party criticism for her “racist” rhetoric regarding immigration, after describing an “invasion” of migrants.

Braverman is an alum of Queens’ College, and served as CUCA chair in 2000. She faced a corruption scandal after it was alleged she attempted to buy student votes while campaigning for the role. These claims were strongly denied by Braverman and fellow students, however.

When pressed by Varsity on his invitation of the former Home Secretary, Union President Nick Davis said: “We’re glad to present a dynamic and exciting term card with leading political figures who members can engage with and challenge.”

The Union will host 11 debates this term, with topics including the current state of the Labour Party, the use of satire as a form of art, and the issue of a United States of Europe. Amongst the speakers in these debates are Former Trump aide John Bolton, hard line Brexit campaigner and MP John Redwood, and North Tyneside mayor Jamie Driscoll.

In his welcome message, Davis wrote: “I think we have a term which embraces this spirit of the Union. And what a term of debates we have. These debates invite us to contest new radical versions of the future.”

“You will have the chance to challenge and hear from an eclectic mix of fascinating speakers. There is no other place on earth where Marco Pierre-White, Al Sharpton, Robbie Lyle from Arsenal Football Club TV will greet the same venue,” he said.

The society will also run a variety of panels this term, on subjects including reproductive health, colonialism, and transphobia. The “exchange of ideas” and “platforming [of] different voices” lies “at the heart of the Union,” said its equalities officer Anoushka Kale.