Her offence was one that trumps all others
Today was always going to be a difficult day for Amber Rudd, who last night resigned as Home Secretary. Embattled ministers have faced the Commons in the past in arguably a stronger position than hers and yet have had to fall on their swords. So too did she. She is accused of the one offence that trumps all others – misleading the House. It is this that usually seals the fate of a minister rather than the initial failure from which other mishaps flow.
Granted, she was the victim of a pernicious Labour campaign to distract attention from its own problems over anti-semitism. With its eyes on big advances in multi-ethnic London in Thursday’s local elections, the party is anxious for a top political scalp that can be attributed to allegations of Tory bias against immigrants. This is outrageous cynicism, but it is politics. It is also aided and abetted by some exceptionally incompetent administration by the Home Office, first in allowing the Windrush debacle to develop in the way it did and then in bungling the response so badly.
Should Ms Rudd have resigned for this? Had she knowingly misled Parliament, she would have no option, and only she could know if this was the case. To the home affairs select committee, Ms Rudd said she did not know the immigration department operated local deportation targets for illegal immigrants, which ensnared Windrush generation people even though they were here lawfully.
A leaked memo has subsequently indicated that there was a national policy of which she should have been aware, but wasn’t. A letter signed by Ms Rudd speaks of an “ambitious but deliverable” target of increasing deportations by 10 per cent. Early reports suggested that in preparing for her Commons appearance she had found new information about the existence of targets. In any case, she has now taken responsibility for her department’s failures.
The Home Office has been dysfunctional for decades. A previous home secretary described the immigration side as “not fit for purpose”. Theresa May was in charge for six years and she, of course, is Labour’s principal target. Every government since the Sixties shares some blame for failing the Windrush generation.
What matters now is for ministers to explain how they will rectify the shambles in the department. But they have no need to apologise for operating a robust policy against illegal immigrants. And if that is no longer the policy of the Labour Party, then it should say so.