Rudd quits as she admits misleading Parliament on migration
Politician who impressed when standing in for Prime Minister had been tipped for the top job
AMBER RUDD resigned as Home Secretary last night after admitting she had “inadvertently misled” Parliament over the existence of deportation targets.
The Conservative MP was said to have been preparing to tough it out after a week of calls for her to quit over her handling of the Windrush scandal, but decided to step down late last night, alerting the Prime Minister by telephone.
In a letter to Theresa May, Ms Rudd said she was shown evidence suggesting knowledge of deportation targets within her own department was widespread. She admitted she “inadvertently misled” Parliament over the issue and felt she had no other option but to resign as a result.
Accepting her resignation, the Prime Minister said Ms Rudd had answered questions during a select committee hearing about Windrush “in good faith” and added she was “very sorry” about her decision to leave.
Her decision, which makes her the fifth Cabinet member to resign since the general election, shocked MPS and came just hours after a leaked letter publicly undermined her claim that she did not know about targets to deport immigrants while in office.
In that letter, written more than a year ago, Ms Rudd set out her plans to increase removals by 10 per cent, contradicting her earlier denial to MPS.
Ms Rudd’s resignation follows a week of intense pressure over the Windrush scandal, which saw Caribbean immigrants threatened with deportation after they were unable to prove their right to live and work in Britain.
It comes at a difficult time for the party as the Prime Minister faces a Cabinet row over Brexit in the coming days and a potential reshuffle at the heart of her team which could upset the delicate remain/leave balance among senior ministers.
Just days from the local elections, the party is already fearful of how voters may be impacted by the Windrush scandal and how Conservatives may now be viewed by minority ethnic communities.
Diane Abbott, the shadow home secretary, said Ms Rudd had done the right thing. “This was inevitable, the only surprise is that it took so long. The architect of this crisis, Theresa May, must now step forward to give a full and honest account of how this inexcusable situation happened on her watch.”
Speculation in Westminster was rife last night that Jeremy Hunt, the Health Secretary, could be poised to take over. Other suggestions included the Communities Secretary, Sajid Javid. Number 10 confirmed a replacement would be announced today.
Michael Gove, the Environment Secretary and one of the Cabinet’s leading Brexiteers, was also being touted as a frontrunner to replace Ms Rudd. Mr Gove tweeted last night: “I’m so sad about Amber’s departure from government – she was a huge asset – brave, principled, thoughtful, humane, considerate and always thinking of the impact of policy on the vulnerable. I hope Amber will be back soon – we need her.”
Boris Johnson, the Foreign Secretary, said: “Really sad to lose Amber Rudd from Cabinet. A fine colleague who did a great job during last year’s terrorist attacks and cares deeply about the people she serves.”
Ms Rudd was one of the most senior remain-supporting voices in the top team and anti-brexit MPS had expressed fears that she might be replaced by a leaver if she were forced out of her post, leading to a harder exit from the European Union.
The final straw for Ms Rudd appeared to be a leaked letter, published last night by The Guardian, which revealed the former home secretary had set an “aim” to increase deportations by 10 per cent during her time in office, a target she described as “ambitious but deliverable”.
She was facing accusations that she had lied to Parliament after telling a committee of MPS on Wednesday last week that the Home Office did not set targets for deportations, despite claims made by an immigration union boss that it did. Ms Rudd insisted during the
AMBER RUDD had been tipped for the top, a prime minister in waiting. She was perhaps the one bright spark in Theresa May’s disastrous snap election campaign last May, standing in for her boss in a televised election debate in which the Prime Minister had refused to take part.
Pretty much everybody agreed that Ms Rudd had done far better in place of the lacklustre Mrs May and many wondered out loud if she wouldn’t one day make it to No 10 herself.
Even more remarkably, Ms Rudd had ploughed on with the televised debate, taking on Jeremy Corbyn and the other party leaders, despite learning that her father Tony Rudd, a retired stockbroker, had died at the age of 93 just days before.
Ms Rudd, by then home secretary for just 10 months, had shown an inner strength and determination. She was suddenly a contender for the highest office.
Ms Rudd, 54, had represented the modernising wing of the party: a pro-remainer from metropolitan elite stock. Educated at Cheltenham Ladies College and then at Edinburgh University, where she read history, she began a career in investment banking.
But her circle of friends and family is an illustrious one. Her brother is Roland Rudd, one of the most powerful public relations men in the City, a supporter of New Labour and close friend of both Tony Blair and Lord Mandelson.
She was married in 1990 to AA Gill, the brilliant Sunday Times critic, with whom she had two twin children. The marriage lasted five years. Gill, who died of cancer in 2016 aged 62, would jokingly refer to Ms Rudd as the “Silver Spoon” in reference to her privileged upbringing.
Indeed, Ms Rudd was credited as the “aristocracy coordinator” on the British film Four Weddings and a Funeral that starred Hugh Grant, supplying well-dressed extras for the posh wedding scenes. Richard Curtis, who made the film, voiced surprise at how many dukes she knew.
The split from Gill, who remained fond of her, took its toll. He had left her suddenly for Nicola Formby, the model. “It took a bit of time to recover,” she once said some years later. Ms Rudd resolved to go into politics. Winning the marginal Hastings and Rye seat in 2010, the majority was whittled down to just 346 votes in 2017.
She was quickly promoted under David Cameron and was appointed to the Cabinet as energy and climate change secretary in 2015. When Mr Cameron quit post-brexit, Ms Rudd took over in charge of the Home Office.
It’s intriguing to think that she has now been forced to resign in the wake of a Windrush scandal largely inherited from her predecessor. Mrs May had been the longest-serving home secretary; Ms Rudd didn’t make two years.
Her problem stemmed in the end from trying to pick up the pieces of a policy of hostile immigration created by Mrs May. Ms Rudd had, when the scandal first broke, attempted to shift the blame away from Mrs May and focus it instead on overzealous immigration officials. But she had claimed at a home affairs committee grilling that she had not been aware of
any targets set for the deportation of illegal immigrants. In fact, as the letter to Mrs May written a little over a year ago showed, she had herself put in place plans for a 10 per cent rise in deportations.
A detailed memo that had also set out targets had been sent to her; she claimed not to have read it. On Friday she had agonised over her future, trying to stick it out in the face of fierce criticism.
By last night, she concluded she couldn’t hang on any longer.
‘Her problem stemmed from trying to pick up the pieces of a policy of hostile immigration’