Amber Rudd resigns

Calls by political opponents for government ministers to resign have become so commonplace that they’ve lost some of their potency.

But the truth is that the honourable resignation still has its place in politics.

Home Secretary Amber Rudd’s handling of the Windrush crisis was an instance where those calling for a minister to go had a point. Last week, Ms Rudd appeared to strike an appropriate note of contrition over a crisis that has seen British citizens, who came from the Caribbean as children, threatened with deportation. In the Commons, her line was that she was appalled by what had happened and that now she knew about it, she would be doing everything in her power to put things right.

This, at the time, seemed reasonable. If she had been unaware of the problem then she could hardly be held responsible. But then things changed. The Home Secretary, having denied her department had targets for the removal of illegal immigrants, admitted they do exist. In the end there was only one course, and the Prime Minister accepted her resignation last night.