Joe Lycett tells Suella Braverman to ‘ignore the haters’ as Rwanda deal blocked by court

Comedian previously joked that he’s ‘extremely right wing’

Joe Lycett has told Suella Braverman to “ignore the haters” as the home secretary’s Rwanda deportation deal was ruled unlawful by the Court of Appeal.

The British comedian is known for trolling Tory politicians, after infamously saying he was “very right wing” and a big supporter of then prime minister Liz Truss during an appearance on Laura Kuenssberg’s BBC politics show in September.

On Thursday (29 June), Lycett resurrected his right-wing persona in response to news that the Court of Appeal had blocked the government’s plan to forcibly deport small boat migrants to Rwanda.

Judges concluded that the African nation is not a safe country to receive asylum seekers from the UK. You can keep up with updates on The Independent’s live blog here.

Following the announcement, Lycett humorously offered some words of support to home secretary Braverman, a champion of the policy that has now been ruled unlawful.

“@SuellaBraverman ignore the haters babe [heart emojis],” he tweeted, adding: “(By haters I mean the royal court of justice.)”

Lycett’s “right-wing” persona began last year, when he appeared on Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg in the same episode as then-prime ministerial hopeful Liz Truss.

After Kuenssberg’s interview with Truss came to an end, Lycett could be heard cheering off-screen, shouting: “You smashed it, Liz!”

Lycett then proceeded to sarcastically share his candid thoughts about Truss and the Tory government, but joked they were not his own sentiments as he is “extremely right-wing”.

“I think the haters will say we’ve had 12 years of the Tories, and that we’re sort of at the dregs of what they’ve got available, and that Liz Truss is sort of like the backwash of the available MPs,” he said. “I wouldn’t say that, because I’m incredibly right-wing, but some people might say that.”

The Birmingham-born comedian later explained that he’d mocked Truss due to anger over the Partygate scandal, as his best friend died at the start of lockdown and wasn’t able to have a proper funeral.

Lycett continued this character during his acceptance speech at the National Comedy Awards in February, when he shouted out Truss, saying: “Liz Truss! Couldn’t do it without you, girl.”

The following month, he published an open letter to Truss by way of a full-page advertisement in her local paper, in which he referred to himself as “right-wing comedian and passionate Liz Truss supporter Joe Lycett”.

“Babe!!! I hope you’re not too surprised to see my popping my head out from between the sheets (of your local regional newspaper tehe)!!” the advert read, before asking the Tory politician to appear on his Channel 4 show Late Night Lycett.