GO NOW Theresa May DAY
PM on ropes as poll points blame at No10
AMBER Rudd may have quit over the immigration targets scandal but the finger of blame for the fiasco was last night pointing firmly at Theresa May.
The rattled PM faced growing calls to resign for dodging responsibility for the heartless policies that led to the mistreatment of Windrush family members.
And with her “shield” Rudd gone after she stepped down as Home Secretary for misleading Parliament on targets, May was left exposed to attack.
But she refused three times to say whether she would quit.
And the gutless leader chickened out of a showdown with MPs over the immigration issue – shamelessly sending out Rudd’s successor Sajid Javid instead.
Even that backfired as he savaged the “hostile environment” started when she was Home Secretary.
Windrush children were among those calling for May to go.
Donald Thompson, who has been threatened with deportation despite being here legally since 1967, said: “The buck stops with Theresa May. Honestly, I think she perpetrated the whole thing. I think she should resign.”
The 64-year-old dental assistant, of Tottenham, north London, arrived in the UK from Jamaica aged 13.
But since the Home Office destroyed the landing cards of the Windrush Generation, he has been unable to prove he is legal.
Joe Robinson, 58, arrived in Britain at the age of six but has been left stranded in Jamaica when he returned there for his 50th birthday in 2009. He said: “This woman, Rudd, you can
blame her but it’s not her fault, it’s Theresa May. Because she was Home Secretary then when these things were going on.
“I blame Theresa May for it. She’s the one who should resign.”
A Sky News poll last night showed 31 per cent blame May for the scandal but just four per cent felt it was Rudd’s fault.
Shadow Home Secretary Diane Abbott said “all roads lead” to the PM who was the “architect of this crisis”.
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said May “has questions to answer about what she did as Home Secretary”. He added: “She was presiding over, in her terms, the creation of a hostile environment.” Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell said the Tories were in “terminal disarray” and added: “You can smell the odour of a government decomposing.”
Javid used his debut as Home Secretary to take a swipe at May.
Asked about the “hostile environment”, he replied: “It is a phrase that is unhelpful and it does not represent our values as a country.”
On the Windrush scandal, he added: “I will do whatever it takes to put it right.”
Rudd, who repeatedly denied knowing about immigration targets – until a letter to the PM outlining them was published at the weekend – is the fourth to quit May’s Cabinet in 180 days.
Michael Fallon, Priti Patel and Damian Green also left under clouds.
James Brokenshire replaces Javid as Housing Secretary.
International Development Secretary Penny Mordaunt takes over Rudd’s responsibilities as Minister for Women and Equalities.
It is a phrase that is unhelpful and it does not represent our values
SAJID JAVID ON “HOSTILE ENVIRONMENT” PHRASE