Refugees

Fatherly Contradictions in the UK’s Migrant Response

Anger and Change

I think he followed the instincts of every father and every parent… (Boris Johnson)

Back in May, Dominic Cummings broke the lockdown rules and was defended by the British government. The Prime Minister’s defended his aide by appealing to the public’s family instincts, claiming he had acted purely in the best interests of his child.

A Prime Minister with an unknown number of children, who is a serial adulterer and has shown his disdain for women on countless occasions (he wrote that single mothers are “ill-raised, ignorant, aggressive and illegitimate”) has no right to preach family morals to a nation.

But the Conservative Party sinks to new lows every day. And their response to the latest migrant landings in Kent confirmed what we already knew: there is one rule for them and another for everyone else.

The PM’s aide was just trying to protect his child by needlessly driving to Barnard Castle for an eye test. But a father fleeing a war-torn country to save his children’s lives is unacceptable, according to this self-serving government.

Take Back Control

I know that when the British people say they want to take back control of our borders — this is exactly what they mean (Priti Patel)

Who are ‘the British people’? The Conservatives have shown that the only opinions they’re interested in are those of their donors. They are out of touch with the lives of the vast majority of the country and have led a brutal misinformation campaign to convince disgruntled citizens that their problems can be attributed to migrants.

Ahmed (16) fled Afghanistan in 2019 after his whole family was shot dead by the Taliban. He used people traffickers to smuggle him across two continents in the hope of reaching London where his only relative (an uncle) lives. No progress has been made on his case in nine months.

The government does not see Ahmed as a human being. They do not see a child, desperate to live, to be reunited with a family member after the heart-wrenching loss he has suffered. They see a political tool they can use to incite hatred and sow division. They see an opportunity to whip up hysteria amongst those nostalgic for the British empire (a shamefully large proportion of the population).

Anger and Change

[A] very bad and stupid and dangerous and criminal thing to do (Boris Johnson, on the migrant crossings)

The scenes of a migrant dinghy washing up on our shores should inspire anger and a desire to bring about change. Sadly, this is exactly the effect it has had on many — but anger at the wrong people and calls for the wrong sort of change.

The opposition between the ‘paternal instincts’ of Cummings and the ‘dangerous and criminal’ behaviour of refugees is the perfect symbol for the Conservative Party. It’s a horrific indictment of this government’s priorities that they back a father’s claim to be protecting his child when he acted irresponsibly and broke lockdown rules, and condemn others who are in genuine need of refuge.

This is not an invasion. We cannot blame people for risking their lives to reach a safe country. It is our immoral, self-serving government that deserves our anger.