Tory former Ministers defend themselves over secret Afghan migration route revelation
“The Home Office tried to stop a £7bn plan to grant asylum to 24,000 Afghans because of fears over national security, The Telegraph has learnt. The Treasury and the Foreign Office were also among several government departments to express serious concerns about the secret scheme, but were overruled after defence ministers used “emotional blackmail” to force the plan through, it is claimed. Multiple sources have told The Telegraph that the plan to airlift thousands of Afghans to the UK – codenamed Operation Rubific – caused a major row within the government, with senior Cabinet ministers objecting to it on the grounds of security, cost and practicality. Among those who raised objections were Sir James Cleverly, who was foreign secretary and then home secretary during the time the row was raging, Suella Braverman, who preceded Sir James in the Home Office, Michael Gove, the communities secretary, and Laura Trott, the chief secretary to the Treasury, it is understood. The row began in August 2023, when Sir Ben Wallace, then defence secretary, was told about a data breach that had leaked the names of Afghans who had applied for asylum through the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (Arap), for those who had worked with the British Armed Forces during the war in that country. Excerpts of the list of names had appeared on social media. The data was accidentally leaked by a Royal Marine who was working under the command of Gen Sir Gwyn Jenkins, then director of Special Forces.” – Daily Telegraph
- Tory Leak War. Conservative ex-ministers at war as Afghan data leak sparks furious blame game – The Sun
- Afghan asylum cover up ‘saved lives’ former defence minister Ben Wallace insists – The i
- ‘Serious questions to answer’ over Afghan data breach, says Keir Starmer – Guardian
- Taliban warns thousands of Afghans secretly airlifted to UK ‘we will hunt you down’ after MoD leaked ‘kill list’ – The Sun
- Faces of the Afghans murdered by Taliban since ‘kill list’ leak – Daily Telegraph
- ‘My husband was on the Taliban’s kill list. Thank you, Britain, for saving us’ – Daily Telegraph
- Thanks for saving us, now we’ll sue you: Afghan data disaster takes bleakly predictable twist as ambulance-chasing lawyers cash in – Daily Mail
- £1Billion blunder. MoD braced for £1billion compensation bill after 100k lives put at risk of Taliban death squads by Afghan leak scandal – The Sun
- MoD warns lawyers it will ‘fight them hard’ on Afghan leak compensation – Daily Telegraph
- Suella Braverman breaks silence on secret Afghan scheme in furious statement – Daily Express
- Suella Braverman’s husband quits Reform after six months – Daily Telegraph
- Latest blow for Farage as another prominent figure quits Reform UK – Daily Express
Comment
- Afghan cover-up shows secrecy is addictive – Juliet Samuel, The Times
- The Taliban had very few cards to play against Britain. Now that’s changed – David Blair, Daily Telegraph
- After Afghan debacle, why trust the British state? – Henry Hill, Unherd
Welfare rebels remain defiant after Starmer suspends MPs for ‘breaches of discipline’
“Sir Keir Starmer has suspended four left-wing Labour MPs over “persistent breaches of discipline” as he tries to restore control over his party. The prime minister removed the whip from Rachael Maskell, who spearheaded a recent welfare rebellion, as well as Brian Leishman, Neil Duncan-Jordan and Chris Hinchliff. He stripped another three MPs of trade envoy jobs. It will be seen as an attempt to wrest back party discipline before MPs depart Westminster for the summer. The prime minister was recently forced by his own backbenchers to U-turn on controversial welfare reforms. However, the MPs have also been the subject of complaints from backbench colleagues who were trying to remain loyal to the government. One party source said the MPs had been suspended for “persistent knob-headery’. There is speculation they may have been in conversations about joining a new party being set up by Jeremy Corbyn and the Labour MP Zarah Sultana.” – The Times
- Starmer risks Labour split as he kicks out welfare rebels – Daily Telegraph
- Starmer kicks out Labour’s welfare rebels: PM sets up major clash with party as hardline anti-cuts MPs are suspended for ‘persistent’ defiance – Daily Mail
- Keir Starmer removes Labour whip from four ‘persistent rebel’ MPs – Guardian
- Keir Starmer sacks seven Labour MPs including ringleader of humiliating welfare rebellion in brutal left-wing purge – The Sun
UN suggests migration will drive UK population to grow faster than other EU countries
“Record-breaking levels of immigration is causing Britain’s population to grow faster than any other major EU country, figures have claimed. According to the United Nations, the UK’s population is expected to balloon 6.8 per cent from 69.6million to 74.3million by the end of the century. Only Luxembourg, with a tiny population of around 672,000, is expected to rise more, at 10 per cent. It’s feared the main driving force behind the surge is the Britain’s skyrocketing immigration crisis – which political parties have so far failed to tackle. The news comes as the number of people living in the UK swelled by 9.2 million in the last 25 years, according to a cross-party Lords report today. The study, drafted by Conservative peer Robin Hodgson and ‘Blue Labour’ grandee Maurice Glasman, raised concerns the UK was well on track to becoming Europe’s most crowded country.” – Daily Mail
- UK population rise ‘biggest of major European nations’ by 2100 – Times
- Far-right riots warning over Afghan immigration ‘cover-up’ – The i
- People smuggler who trafficked adults and children into Britain claimed he shouldn’t be deported because ‘it would be too disruptive for his daughter’ – Daily Mail
- Migrant Charged. Asylum seeker ‘sexually assaulted’ girl days after arriving in UK on small boat sparking protest outside migrant hotel – The Sun
- UK town erupts as furious locals protest against migrant hotel – Daily Express
- Syrian asylum seeker, 18, appears in court accused of raping woman in a public toilet on popular seafront – Daily Mail
Comment
- Britain can’t afford to let migrants live on benefits – Ross Clark, Spectator
Further evidence Reeves’ Budget tax raid has cost jobs and driven down wage growth
“Thousands of jobs were lost in June, official data has shown, putting the Bank of England under greater pressure to deal with the consequences of Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ £20bn tax raid at its next interest rates decision in August. Bank Governor Andrew Bailey has warned that “softening” in the labour market could force rate-setters to make deeper cuts than expected, with a rise in employers’ national insurance contributions (NICs) forcing firms to feed through price rises to consumers. The estimate of employees on the payroll dropped by around 41,000 in June while the unemployment rate grew to 4.7 per cent, a four-year high. In the year to June, some 178,000 people were pushed out of work.” – CityAM
- UK economy sheds jobs for fifth consecutive month in June – FT
- Reeves’s inflation shock forces Bank of England to gamble – Daily Telegraph
Comment
- Labour is coming for your money. Tax rises are on the way and this is the group of people Rachel Reeves has her eyes on – Dan Hodges, Daily Mail
- Cash ISA changes still planned as Reeves wants your savings on stock market – The i
- Keir Starmer refuses to rule out raising taxes for self-employed – The Times
Police face ban from marching in Pride parades after court rules it breaches impartiality
“A police force failed to act impartially when it allowed officers to take part in a Gay Pride and transgender rights march, a court has ruled. Linzi Smith, 34, a gender-critical lesbian, brought a case against Northumbria Police after officers, including Vanessa Jardine, the head of the force, took part in last year’s parade in Newcastle. Ms Smith argued that while she accepted it was necessary for the Pride march to be policed it was wrong for officers to actively participate because it breached their professional oath to operate with impartiality. Allowing the judicial review, Mr Justice Linden said: “The fact that the officers had publicly stated their support for transgender rights by taking part in the 2024 march would be likely to give the impression that they may not deal with the matter fairly and impartially.”- Daily Telegraph
- Police face ban from marching in Pride parades after court rules it breaches impartiality – Daily Mail
BBC News chief says father of teen presenter of Gaza documentary was not in ‘military wing’ of Hamas
“The BBC’s head of news has told staff that the Hamas government of Gaza and the organisation’s military wing are “different”. Deborah Turness made the comments in a meeting intended to reassure staff after the “catastrophic failure” of broadcasting the documentary Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone. The BBC broke editorial guidelines by not disclosing that Abdullah, a boy at the centre of the now-pulled documentary, was the son of Ayman Alyazouri, the Hamas-run government’s deputy minister of agriculture. Ms Turness suggested that there was a difference between Gaza’s Hamas-run government and its Hamas-run military. The UK Government makes no such distinction, and Hamas is “proscribed in its entirety”. Ms Turness told staff: “I think it’s really important that we are clear that Abdullah’s father was a deputy agriculture minister, and therefore was a member of the Hamas-run government, which is different to being part of the military wing of Hamas.” – Daily Telegraph
News in Brief
- Life is good in Starmerland. It’s a shame about Britain – Madeline Grant, Spectator
- Only a cultural reset can unleash Britain’s entrepreneurial spirit – Sean Kohli, CapX
- How Trump lost the Epstein truthers – Kat Rosenfield, Unherd
- The dead hand of decolonisation – Pierre d’Alancaisez, The Critic
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