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Reset? As I said, “business as usual”
Remember the Tories were going to end the hostile environment? Remember how sorry they were about it? Remember how “grateful” they were to the Windrush generation? Remember they were going to “reset” policymaking after the departure of Cummings and Cain? And remember (see previous blog) how I said they wouldn’t?
Well, they haven’t. Ken Morgan’s story won’t be the last to demonstrate “business as usual” at the Home Office. And don’t imagine that it makes much difference who is Home Secretary or which government is in power. Ken Morgan’s story began in 1994 under John Major’s Tory government; we’ve had 3 Labour governments, a Tory/LibDem coalition and 3 Tory governments since then. Under all those governments, and with their connivance, the Home Office maintained its racist hostility to migrants and asylum seekers. Tory Home Secretary Michael Howard agreed with his fellow Tory Ann Widdicombe that the UK was a “soft touch” for asylum seekers and said that “only a tiny proportion of them are genuine refugees”. Labour Home Secretary David Blunkett later said they were “swamping our schools”.
If by some miracle Priti Patel was ousted from her post as Home Secretary, it wouldn’t make much difference to any of this. After the Windrush scandal broke, Tory Home Secretary Savid Javid told us that the “hostile” environment had been changed to the “compliant” environment. That’s different, isn’t it? Yes. It suggests thumbscrews.
Windrush victim refused British citizenship despite wrongful passport confiscation
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/nov/22/windrush-victim-refused-british-citizenship-despite-wrongful-passport-confiscation?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
Re-what?
After the departure of Cummings and Cain, the new buzzword is “reset”. Johnson will be able to reset Downing Street, reset his politics, reset his relationship with his MPs, reset his government and reset policymaking.
Reset.
A clutter of Tory MPs have said it, former cabinet ministers have said it, and anonymous current ones. Journalists are making sure they use it. Andrew Marr will say it. Sajid Javid was said to be favourite for reset minister.
Prediction: it won’t happen (OK, it’s a hostage to fortune, and my impersonations of the prophet Isaiah have never been that good, but still). Johnson won’t stop trying to fix the judges, he will still appoint the nastiest ones to do jobs like the Spycops inquiry (the judge doing that one told counsel for one of the victims that he couldn’t ask the witness any more questions, and if he tried, “I will silence you”). Priti Patel won’t stop vilifying solicitors for doing their jobs defending their clients, and her Home Office will, as in the story below, defy court orders with impunity. The Home Office has always provided a home for lawless thugs, but I think this is the first time I’ve seen them defy a court order with such arrogance, afterwards saying “It’s business as usual”. And the Orwellian language has reached a new height: their housing subcontractor Mears sent one asylum seeker an eviction notice which read: “You need to leave this property by 11 November 2020. We understand it is a key step in your asylum journey.”
Reset? No, it’s “business as usual”.
I think I’ll stay off the news for the rest of today! And it’s raining.
Home Office accused of breaching court order over asylum seeker evictions
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2020/nov/06/home-office-high-court-asylum-seeker-evictions-coronavirus?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
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