STOP the boats, stop the boats, stop the boats shouted Prime Minister Sunak and his henchman Home Secretary ‘Cruella’ Suella Braverman, as the Tories attempt to fix their 13 years of failed immigration policy and hoodwink the British public into giving them some credit for doing so.

This attempt deserves to fail as it is out of step with the decency and compassion normally shown by us Brits to foreigners.
It follows a worrying trend of xenophobic behaviour against certain types of asylum seekers. It has been exacerbated since Brexit with the resulting loss of huge swathes of summer immigrant labour and the return to Eastern Europe, and Poland in particular, of those members of the workforce who were vital to keeping our nation afloat.
Contrast this current furore with the welcome received by the flow last year of Ukrainian refugees, which shows the British sense of fair play and justice of which this current Tory Government seems incapable.

The Home Secretary then rounded on Gary Lineker to criticise the language being used by the Government concerning the Bill. ‘Invasion’, ‘menace’ etc – it is factually correct to state that these tropes are similar to those used by nationalist parties in 1930s Germany.
What if the terms of this Bill by Cruella had been applied when her and her husband’s forebears were attempting to leave Europe and come to the UK and were denied admittance? She, Sunak and Schapps should be reminded of facts like that when following a blatantly populist policy to help bolster their falling ratings in the polls.

If they followed the stories of these boat people from France and the terrible privations undergone by most of them then they would be showing more sympathy to their wanting to cross one final hurdle – the Channel – in their asylum chase.
Back to Lineker – by the time this column goes to press, he may well have been reinstated, due to the solidarity shown by his fellow presenters leaving Match of the Day anchor-less.
What shouldn’t be forgotten is how he was suspended while Richard Sharp, the BBC chairman and Tory donor, has remained in post despite failing to declare the £800,000 loan he facilitated for Boris Johnson. The same Johnson – remember him? – who is now attempting to ennoble his disgraced father.
This discredited allowance of up to 100 ‘grace and favour’ awards to leaving PMs should be abandoned forthwith. It is so out of date in the egalitarian world we profess to maintain.
Also for the scrapheap should be the practice of political appointments to the post of BBC chair. Broadcasting should be independent of government. Maybe then we wouldn’t run out of MOTD presenters.