A senior aide to British Home Secretary James Cleverly admits Prime Minister Rishi Sunak‘s now-scrapped Rwanda migrant deportation plan was “crap,” according to a leaked recording from an April private meeting. James Sunderland, Parliamentary Private Secretary to Cleverly and a Conservative election candidate, said, “I have been part of this for the last two years… nobody has got their cameras or phones on, have they? The policy is crap, OK? It’s crap.”
Defending his aide’s remarks, the Home Secretary claimed Sunderland intended to capture attention and have a dramatic effect and that he supports the plan. Cleverly also allegedly criticized the policy, describing it as “bats**t”—although he denied using such language.
The National Pulse reported in December that the Conservative government had spent nearly £300 million on its Rwanda deportation policy even though the newest version of the plan would only possibly see a handful of migrants sent to the African nation.
Cleverly hailed the revised agreement with Rwanda at the time, stressing that it “addresses all the issues raised by their lordships in the Supreme Court.”
Prior to court intervention, Rwanda received £140 million from the United Kingdom as part of the original deal devised by former Prime Minister Boris Johnson. No migrants were relocated to Rwanda under the original agreement before the UK courts ruled it unlawful.
Following the court battle, Prime Minister Sunak announced he was suspending the deportation plan until after the July 4 election, which his party is projected to lose in a potential landslide. Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour Party, projected to win with a large majority, is pledging to scrap the policy altogether.
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