Home Office civil servants used an officially organised online consultation this afternoon to discuss the recently-announced Rwanda policy, asking how to potentially block the move, comparing themselves to Nazis “only obeying orders”, proposed going on strike and questioned how to deal with their mental health in light of the policy. It shows conclusive evidence of the scale of left-wing opposition facing Patel and the government from within the civil service. It follows news from the weekend that Patel had to issue a ministerial direction to force the policy through.

The comments unearthed by Guido, from the departmental forum, came despite an official warning to participants to abide by their commitment to civil service neutrality. On this point one mandarin said “being impartial is one thing, however should we not be afforded the opportunity to challenge policies we can clearly see are a disaster waiting to happen?” Multiple comments bemoaned the effect the Home Office’s latest policy directive was having on their mental health, as well as the problem of saying what their job is around fellow liberal metropolitan friends…

This is the scale of opposition Priti Patel is facing at the moment from the enemies within, despite her and her fellow ministers being the only people in the department with democratic mandates. While Jacob Rees-Mogg and Simon Clarke are publicly promising to cull the number of civil servants, Guido can see a very obvious place the start…