Throughout the day we’ve been preparing for a rare PM-royalty showdown, as Boris is scheduled to meet with Prince Charles at CHOGM today after he briefed two papers he hates the government’s Rwanda deportation policy. In a pool interview the PM spoke bluntly of his plans to defend the policy in front of the Prince, despite it not “[coming] up so far”.
“People need to keep an open mind about the policy – the critics need to keep an open mind, I think a lot of people can see its obvious merits – and yeah of course if I’m seeing the prince tomorrow I’m going to make that point.
You’ll defend it if he raises it?
“Yeah I mean it hasn’t come up so far but of course.”
After this rather blunt statement on the usually private topic of Prime Ministerial discussions with the Royal Family, however, according to Chris Ship of ITV both camps are now pro-actively briefing that the Rwanda policy will not come up in tomorrow’s discussions.
NEW: Prince Charles and Boris Johnson trying to diffuse the growing row over the Rwanda asylum seeker plan.
— Chris Ship (@chrisshipitv) June 23, 2022
After the PM said this morning he would defend the plan in his face-to-face meeting with Charles on Friday - NOW both sides say the topic WON’T come up in their talks 🤔
Did Charles’s team finally realise that actually an unelected prince dictating government policy on a topic that probably doesn’t affect him or any of his rural idylls probably isn’t a good look for the Royals?
Trevor Noah took Guido by surprise after dedicating part of his latest show to covering Boris and Priti’s failed Rwanda deportation… and defending the plan; accusing lefties in the UK of insulting Africa. A stopped clock and all that…
The director of one of the main groups involved in preventing the Rwanda flight taking off is, to no one’s surprise, standing to be a Labour candidate at the next general election. Bella Sankey is the head of Detention Action, a group who, as well trying to prevent the Rwanda deportation, previously led a campaign to stop the deportation of convicted rapists, murderers and attempted murderers. Now she’s standing to be the Labour candidate in Hastings and Rye…
I'm excited to say that I'm standing to be the next @UKLabour MP for Hastings & Rye.🌹
— Bella Sankey (@BellaSankey) June 14, 2022
I've got the Sussex roots, motivation & credibility to win here, stand up for local people & help put Labour in power at the next General Election. /1 pic.twitter.com/F97yoFayxl
It’s not the first time Bella’s stood as a Labour candidate. In 2019 she stood in the Tory safe seat of Arundel and South Downs, receiving an endorsement from none other than… Keir Starmer:
Good luck @BellaSankey - another great @UKLabour candidate #VoteLabour2019 https://t.co/lilahmxWER
— Keir Starmer (@Keir_Starmer) November 14, 2019
Eight days ago, Labour claimed they had nothing to do with the legal actions to frustrate the deportations, telling the Mail “As the Government well knows, Labour is not involved. This is desperate lashing-out for a party that’s in chaos.”
Despite this denial from Labour, Keir Starmer was happy to describe the woman leading the legal frustrations as “a woman of principle and integrity. She has a strong track record of successful campaigns for justice.” As well as opposing deportations of murderers, Bella’s “track record” of “integrity” includes saying terror attacks are a “price we should be willing to pay” to protect us from being snooped on by GCHQ; lobbied to remove the blanket ban on prisoner voting; is against the freezing of assets of suspected terrorists; and was against the introduction, and then strengthening, of anti-social behaviour orders. A more perfect CV for a prospective Labour MP couldn’t exist…
For some reason broadcast cameras were back filming Cabinet this morning as Boris made a speech on the government’s Rwanda deportation policy ahead of tonight’s* first flight. We have just learnt from action in the Supreme Court that after much legal skirmishing by lefty lawyers, one lucky migrant is due to be flown all expenses-paid by private jet to Rwanda. One eyebrow-raising line came right at the end of his scene setter for the Cabinet as the PM noted “some of the criticism” being levelled at the policy is coming from “slightly unexpected quarters”. Whoever could he be thinking of?
Over the weekend it emerged Boris and Prince Charles’s relationship hasn’t just been strained because of his unwarranted intervention over illegal immigration. According to sources such is the PM’s animus towards the progressive heir to the throne “he struggled to come up with anything positive to say” when sitting down to film a pre-emptive BBC eulogy to be used in the event of his death.
“He told aides before the interview that he did not like Charles and made a series of jokes instead, paying tribute to his Duchy Organic biscuits.
He joked that Charles was the “king of biscuits” and said he feared that he would “take the recipe to his grave”.”
In return, Charles’s courtiers have briefed Johnson had disrespected the Prince by arriving for a visit to his Scottish Highlighands home in a “shambolic state” and appearing “distracted”. That’s normal for Boris, was the Prince expecting special treatment? No doubt the illegal migration crisis really affects millionaire Charles’s ability to access public services up in the Scottish Highlands…
A law firm close to the Labour Party is taking the government to the High Court to try and prevent the first planeload of migrants from being sent to Rwanda. An hour ago Care4Calais, a refugee charity being represented by Duncan Lewis Solicitors, announced they have issued judicial review proceedings in the High Court, to challenge the Home Secretary’s plan to remove migrants. Presently set to take off on 14th June…
The charity and law firm also seeks “an injunction in respect of the flight scheduled for the 14th June,” with a crowdfunder set up to fundraise £70,000.
Duncan Lewis Solicitors is very close to the Labour Party, proudly attending a SME4LABOUR event six years ago, and posing with the now-shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper. In 2018 a blog post on the law firm’s website explained they would be attending Labour Party Conference “as legal practitioners representing clients in matters close to Labour’s heart”.
In 2020 they had to deny they were “lefty lawyers”, despite posing with Jeremy Corbyn, when trying to block another set of migrant deportations. A weak PMQs and now playing into the Tories’ hands on illegal migration – Labour is really set on snatching defeat from the jaws of victory…
Whitehall mandarins are once again mobilising to thwart the government’s Rwanda immigration policy. Having already faced internal outrage from Home Office civil servants, the Independent Advisory Group on Country Information (IAGCI) has now announced it is inviting tenders for a body to “review” government documents on the policy and scour it for “specific errors or omissions of fact”. Here we go again…
The review will involve:
“Assessing the extent to which information from source documents has been appropriately and accurately reflected in the… reports” and “noting and correcting any specific errors or omissions of fact”.
This follows the Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration (IAGCI), David Neal, demanding the Home Office proves that Rwanda is a safe country – now they’ve submitted those documents, there’s still apparently a need for a quango review. In fairness, the ICIBI’s team insists it follows the “Civil Service Values” of integrity, honesty, objectivity, and impartiality. Just like all those Home Office quislings who plotted to “organise and resist” the plans…
