Rudd exit puts her leader on the spot

AMBER Rudd has quit but the architect of the sickening “hostile environment” policy on immigration is still very much in office.

It was Prime Minister Theresa May who masterminded the brutal crackdown that has needlessly destroyed so many lives.

The senseless drive to cut immigration to the “tens of thousands” started during May’s six-year spell at the Home Office.

The “Go Home” vans, the forced deportations and the cruel bureaucracy all happened on her watch.

The attitudes May’s reign fostered and endorsed are ultimately what led to the Windrush scandal.

May hopes that by promoting Sajid Javid – the son of a Pakistani bus driver – to Home Secretary, she can suck some of the poison from the wound.

His father Abdul arrived in the UK in 1961 with just £1 in his pocket.

There can be no better example of the benefits of immigration.

Javid’s success is a great personal achievement but it will take more than one symbolic appointment to make amends for years of hateful rhetoric on May’s part.

She will now be forced to defend the policies she presided over, rather than letting Javid take the heat.

If the PM has any sense, she will entirely reset the UK Government’s immigration policy, scrap those impossible targets and rebrand the UK as a country that welcomes the contribution of all.

Unfortunately, May’s track record shows nothing to suggest this is what will happen.

We can be sure Rudd’s departure will bring numerous headaches for the beleaguered Prime Minister.

It’s the fifth resignation of a cabinet minister in under a year – an extraordinary rate of attrition, even for this inept bunch of clowns.

Rudd was considered a rising star of the Tories and the liberal wing of the party fear they have lost their best hope for replacing May as Prime Minister. But was she really that liberal? Rudd’s first conference speech as Home Secretary contained the sickening suggestion the Government “name and shame” firms who employ foreign workers.

The plans were quietly shelved after a public uproar, considered too xenophobic even for Brexit Britain.

And while Rudd campaigned for Remain, she meekly went along with the Government’s destructive plans to leave the EU single market and customs union.

Yet her resignation is still an undoubted boost for right-wingers in the party.

Rudd’s exit makes the nightmare of Jacob Rees-Mogg or Boris Johnson getting the keys to Downing Street that little bit more likely as May has been fatally undermined once again.

After months of misery, the PM seemed to be turning the tide after her successful handling of the Salisbury poisonings.

The events of the last week prove May remains a cursed politician.

As the Brexit negotiations enter their endgame, the UK desperately needs a Prime Minister with a bit of luck.