Border chief sacked over comments on immigration

JAMES CLEVERLY has sacked the independent chief inspector of borders and immigration after he spoke out about security failings at airports.

The Home Secretary terminated the contract of David Neal for “breaching the terms of his appointment” by disclosing “unauthorised” information to the media.

A Home Office spokesman said the contract had been terminated after Mr Neal “lost the confidence of the Home Secretary”.

It followed warnings by Mr Neal that an inspection at London City Airport had uncovered “dangerous” failings where passengers on “high-risk” flights were not being properly security checked.

The Home Office categorically denied claims that only one in five of the flights were physically checked by Border Force officers prior to departure, saying the figures were wrong and had been released before they had been properly checked.

It is understood, however, that Mr Neal was ready to stand by the concerns he expressed and was preparing to give evidence on them before a House of Lords committee next week.

Mr Neal is also understood to have been frustrated at delays to the publication of his inspection reports, with the Home Office sitting on 15 of them which he feels should have been published by now.

Yesterday afternoon, Mr Neal was told by a senior official at the Home Office that his contract was being terminated early.

It had been due to end on Mar 21. This was followed by a letter from Mr Cleverly telling him that he had breached his contract and terms of his appointment through the unauthorised disclosure of information to the media.

Earlier, in a statement to the House of Commons on the flight checks, Tom Pursglove, the Home Office minister, told MPS: “It’s deeply disturbing that information which has no basis in fact was leaked by the independent chief inspector to a national newspaper before the Home Office had the chance to respond.

“We are urgently investigating this breach of confidential information in full in the normal way,” told MPS at Westminster.