‘That’s Quite A Flip-Flop’: BBC Presenter Burns Nigel Farage Over Deportation U-Turn

Posted on 26/08/2025 by Boris Clair

A BBC presenter accused Nigel Farage of performing “quite a flip-flop” as he prepares to unveil his plan to deport anyone who enters the UK illegally.

Jon Kay pointed out that the Reform UK leader said just a year ago that doing so was “impossible” so it was “pointless” to even discuss it.

In a remarkable U-turn, Farage will today announce that a Reform government would set up a “UK deportation command” if it wins the next election to remove all illegal immigrants from the country.

But asked by GB news last year if he supported the deportation of illegal immigrants, Farage said: “It’s impossible to do. Literally impossible to do.

“For us, at the moment, it’s a political impossibility.”

Asked if it was his “ambition” to do so, he replied: “No … it’s pointless even going there. It’s a political impossibility. We simply can’t do it.”

On BBC Breakfast this morning, Kay reminded former Reform chairman Zia Yusuf of Farage’s previous view.

He said: “Only a year ago, Nigel Farage was asked about removing all illegal immigrants. Back then he said it is ‘impossible’ to remove all illegal immigrants. ‘It is a political impossibility’.

“And then he was asked if it was an ambition for Reform UK and he said ‘no, it’s pointless even going there. It is a political impossibility, We simply can’t do it’. So what has changed in a year?”

Yusuf replied: “What’s changed is we’ve done the work. Nigel didn’t say it was impossible, he said it was a political impossibility. His view on that has decisively changed because of the facts on the ground and because of the fact that we’ve now done the work.”

But Kay told him: “That’s quite a flip-flop, isn’t it, by Mr Farage? To say 12 months ago it’s politically impossible, and now he’s saying we’re going to do it?”

Yusuf said: “We’ve done the work and Nigel has taken the view that not only can this be done, it must be done. As Winston Churchill said, he who never changes his mind never changes anything.”

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‘That’s quite a flip flop by Mr Farage to say 12 months ago it’s politically impossible and now he’s saying we’re going to do it?’

Zia Yusuf from Reform UK was questioned on #BBCBreakfast about plans to organise mass deportations of all illegal migrants to tackle small boats… pic.twitter.com/KpjfNrOnDr

— BBC Breakfast (@BBCBreakfast) August 26, 2025

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‘That’s quite a flip flop by Mr Farage to say 12 months ago it’s politically impossible and now he’s saying we’re going to do it?’

Zia Yusuf from Reform UK was questioned on #BBCBreakfast about plans to organise mass deportations of all illegal migrants to tackle small boats… pic.twitter.com/KpjfNrOnDr

— BBC Breakfast (@BBCBreakfast) August 26, 2025

‘A Dark Moment In British History’: Labour Slammed Over Illegal Immigration Crackdown

Posted on 12/02/2025 by Boris Clair

Labour ministers have been accused of creating “a dark moment in British history” in their latest crackdown on illegal immigration.

Changes announced by the Home Office mean that anyone arriving via an unsafe route, such as across the Channel in a small boat, will be blocked from becoming UK citizens.

The new guidance states: “A person who applies for citizenship from 10 February 2025 who has previously arrived without a required valid entry clearance or electronic travel authorisation, having made a dangerous journey will normally be refused citizenship.”

The controversial move has already sparked a Labour split, with Stella Creasy MP saying it would turn illegal immigrants into “second class” citizens.

Refugee charities have also joined in the backlash against the “deeply damaging” policy.

Kolbassia Haoussou, of Freedom From Torture, said: “Make no mistake, this is a dark moment in British history. If the government really follows through with blocking refugees from getting citizenship, the UK will be taking a huge step backwards.

Refugee Council chief executive Enver Solomon said: “This change flies in the face of reason. The British public want refugees who have been given safety in our country to integrate into and contribute to their new communities, so it makes no sense for the government to erect more barriers.

“We know that men women and children who are refugees want to feel part of the country that has given them a home, and support to rebuild their lives.

“So many refugees over many generations have become proud hard working British citizens as doctors, entrepreneurs and other professionals. Becoming a British citizen has helped them give back to their communities and this should be celebrated, not prevented. We urge ministers to urgently reconsider.

“Everyone deserves the chance to settle and fully integrate into society. I’m a survivor of torture, a British citizen, and I’ve even received an MBE from the late Queen.

“I know many people who also want to contribute to Britain, but blocking their ability to become citizens prevents refugees from fully integrating and flourishing in their new communities.”

Citizenship applications are decided on a case-by-case basis and policies are kept under review.

A Home Office spokesperson said: “There are already rules that can prevent those arriving illegally from gaining citizenship.

“This guidance further strengthens measures to make it clear that anyone who enters the UK illegally, including small boat arrivals, faces having a British citizenship application refused.”

The Tories Spent £715 Million Sending No Asylum Seekers To Rwanda

Posted on 02/12/2024 by Boris Clair

The Tories’ Rwanda scheme cost nearly three quarters of a billion pounds despite failing to send a single asylum seeker to the country, it has been revealed.

Official figures released on Monday by the Home Office showed that a staggering £715m of taxpayers’ money was spent on the failed policy, which was scrapped by Labour after the election.

Further multi-million pound payments would have been due to Rwanda had the scheme continued.

Home secretary Yvette Cooper said it showed the scheme was “a grotesque waste of money”.

Former Conservative home secretary Priti Patel signed the “economic partnership agreement” with Rwandan foreign minister Vincent Biruta in April, 2022.

The aim was for the east African country to accept asylum seekers who entered the UK illegally and deter others from attempting to cross the English Channel from France in small boats.

But the European Court of Human Rights prevented any deportation flights from taking off, and the policy was eventually ruled unlawful by the Uk Supreme Court.

According to the Home Office, Rwanda received £290m from the UK government, with a further £50m being spent on flights, escorting, airfield and police costs.

Some £95m was spent on detention and reception centres, while £280m went on other fixed costs, such as developing IT systems and legal costs.

The Home Office said: “During more than 2 years in which the policy and partnership operated, only four volunteers and no asylum seekers were sent to Rwanda.”

In a statement to MPs, Cooper said: “84,000 people crossed the Channel from the day the deal was signed to the day it was scrapped. This so-called deterrent did not result in a single deportation.

“Or stop a single boat from crossing the Channel. For the British taxpayer, it was
a grotesque waste of money.”

Border security and asylum minister Angela Eagle said: “In the Tories’ own words, the asylum system is ‘broken’ and they ‘let the country down badly’ over 14 years in power.

“Now the sheer eye-watering scale of the Conservatives’ Rwanda gimmick has been exposed. The taxpayer has footed a £700 million bill thanks to their incompetence and Kemi Badenoch would do it all over again.

“This government has already started the hard graft. We hired more caseworkers to tackle the asylum backlog and get people out of hotels. We’ve also removed thousands of those with no right to be in the UK.

“Labour is getting on with cleaning up the Conservatives’ mess. Our new Border Security Command is working with our European partners to smash the criminal gang networks driving small boat crossings.”

Lisa Smart, the Lib Dem home affairs spokesperson, said: “The Conservatives should be utterly ashamed of themselves. £715 million wasted on their failed Rwanda scheme with absolutely nothing to show for it is a disgraceful waste of taxpayer money.

“Not only did they recklessly throw millions down the drain, but the Conservatives left our asylum system in a state of disrepair.”

Home Office Confirms Hundreds Of Asylum Seekers Will Be Kept On A Barge

Posted on 05/04/2023 by Boris Clair

Hundreds of asylum seekers will be housed on a barge docked on the Dorset coast, it has been confirmed.

The Bibby Stockholm vessel will be docked at Portland Port and house more than 500 migrants in its 222 bedrooms.

It is estimated it will cost the public purse around £20,000 a day.

The Home Office is in discussions with other ports, and more barges will be used to house asylum seekers.

But home secretary Suella Braverman faces a potential legal action from Conservative-run Dorset Council, supported by the Tory MP for the area, Richard Drax.

The controversial move is part of Rishi Sunak’s plan to stop asylum seekers crossing the English Channel on small boats, while also cutting the £6m a day bill for housing migrants in hotels while their claims are processed.

The prime minister said: “We’re bringing forward alternative sites, like the barge, that will save us money and indeed reduce pressure on hotels – all part of our plan to stop the boats.”

Immigration minister Robert Jenrick said: “The home secretary and I have been clear that the use of expensive hotels to house those making unnecessary and dangerous journeys must stop.

“We will not elevate the interests of illegal migrants over the British people we are elected to serve.

“We have to use alternative accommodation options, as our European neighbours are doing – including the use of barges and ferries to save the British taxpayer money and to prevent the UK becoming a magnet for asylum shoppers in Europe.”

He insisted the accommodation “will meet our legal obligations” and also pledged to work with local people to address their concerns over the vessel’s location.

Bill Reeves, chief executive of Portland Port, said: “We are keen to play our part in the national effort to house some of the thousands of people needing accommodation.

“We encourage everyone in the community to approach this with an open mind and help us show other areas just how successful this type of initiative can be, both for the migrants and the local community.”

But Drax, the South Dorset MP, said the barge was being “dumped on our door” without consultation by the Home Office as he urged Ms Braverman to scrap the idea.

“Every option’s being looked at including legal action,” he told the PA news agency.

“We want to get this consigned to the dustbin before anything’s signed.

“We want to activate ourselves and say look Home Secretary, sorry, this is not the right place, can you please cancel this.”

New Law Just One Part Of Action To ‘Stop The Boats’, Says Minister

Posted on 05/03/2023 by Boris Clair

New legislation pledged by Rishi Sunak to tackle illegal migration will form only one part of the government’s response to the issue, a senior minister has said.

It comes as Home Secretary Suella Braverman is set to publish long-promised legislation as soon as Tuesday that would make asylum claims inadmissible from those who travel to the UK on small boats.

Sunak on Sunday vowed to put an end to “immoral” illegal migration, while Braverman said “enough is enough”.

But while details are still scarce on the legislation, critics have already questioned whether the government’s solution will make any difference to small boat arrivals on Britain’s shores.

The legislation would see a duty placed on the Home Secretary to remove “as soon as reasonably practicable” anyone who arrives on a small boat, either to Rwanda or a “safe third country”.

Arrivals will also be prevented from claiming asylum while in the UK, with plans also to ban them from returning once removed.

During an appearance on BBC One’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg, Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris was shown a graph displaying a fall in asylum seeker returns since 2010 as he insisted that legislation is just one aspect of the Government’s “arsenal” on the issue.

“We need a full range of things in our arsenal to try and stop both people trafficking and illegal migration across the Channel,” he said.

“That involves proper conversations, that are ongoing, with our French counterparts, and indeed other European counterparts, to try and ensure that people are held in the first safe country that they come to. That also includes international development aid.”

He insisted a tightening of the law is required “because the law has been challenged on pretty much all those occasions and equally when we announced the Rwanda scheme, it was challenged immediately”.

The Prime Minister, who has made “stopping the boats” one of his five priorities, told the Mail on Sunday that he is “determined to deliver” on his promise.

But the Government’s plans have been criticised by campaigners, with concerns too about whether some of the policies are compatible with the European Convention on Human Rights.

The Rwanda scheme has been mired in legal challenges, and so far no flights carrying migrants to the Rwandan capital Kigali have departed.

The latest Home Office figures show 2,950 migrants have crossed the Channel already this year.

Heaton-Harris, speaking to Sophy Ridge On Sunday on Sky News, signalled that the Government may look at opening more “safe and legal routes” for asylum seekers in the future.

“I’m quite sure there’ll be more safe and legal routes and that’s why we have them,” he said. “They’ve been proven to work.”

Labour’s Jonathan Ashworth, speaking on Sky News, said his party would “study” the legislation carefully to see if it addresses the current issues, including processing backlogs.

Pressed on whether his party supports the “broad principle” behind the legislation, the shadow work and pensions secretary said: “The broad principle is that refugees who arrive in this country, we have always welcomed them.

“People whose asylum applications have been turned down, then of course they should be returned, that is a principle that we have always accepted.

“The problem is, of course, that the Conservatives will come out here and they will get headlines and they will say they are going to do this, that and the other, but they never deliver, do they?”

The Liberal Democrats called it “another half-baked plan”. The party’s home affairs spokesman Alistair Carmichael said it is “immoral, ineffective and incredibly costly for taxpayers”.

Lee Anderson Has Said Putting Asylum Seekers In Hotels Leaves A Bitter Taste In His Throat

Posted on 07/11/2022 by Boris Clair

A Tory MP has said that placing migrants in temporary hotel accommodation “leaves a bitter taste in my throat” and called for them to be deported instead.

Lee Anderson also said asylum seekers arriving in the UK should be “sent back the same day”.

The Ashfield MP spoke out as the government continues to come under pressure over the situation at the Manston migrant processing centre in Kent.

At the peak of the crisis a week ago, around 4,000 people were held at the facility, which is designed to hold about 1,600.

Immigration minister Robert Jenrick told the Commons that the situation had since improved, with numbers “back below 1,600” after more than 2,000 people were placed in temporary accommodation.

But Anderson said: “When I hear words like sourcing housing and getting extra hotel spaces for illegal immigrants, it leaves a bitter taste in my throat.

“And I’ll tell you what, I’ve got 5,000 people in Ashfield who want to secure council housing and they cannot get one. Yet, we’re here debating this nonsense once again. When are we going to stop blaming the French, the ECHR, the lefty lawyers?

“The blame lies in this place right now — when are we going to go back and do the right thing and send them straight back the same day?”

Lee Anderson(Tory MP) – “When I hear words like sourcing houses & getting extra hotel spaces for illegal immigrants, it leaves a bitter taste in my throat… when are we going to send them straight back the same day” pic.twitter.com/IlqbsRkt7t

— Haggis_UK 🇬🇧 🇪🇺 (@Haggis_UK) November 7, 2022

Jenrick responded by telling Anderson that while the UK should be “guided by our common desire for decency” it was “not right that migrants are put up in three or four-star hotels at exorbitant cost to the United Kingdom taxpayer”.

He said Rishi Sunak would meet with the French president Emmanuel Macron to reach an agreement on how to stem the flow of small boat crossings in the Channel.

Alistair Carmichael, the Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesperson, criticised Anderson’s remarks.

“We all want to stop these dangerous Channel crossings and defeat the criminal gangs who profit from them, but the Conservatives’ approach isn’t working and they blame everyone but themselves,” Carmichael told HuffPost UK.

“For years, Conservative MPs from Lee Anderson to the home secretary – and even the prime minister – have contributed nothing but alienating rhetoric and simplistic proposals that do nothing to solve the problem. This sort of unhelpful, expensive and callous nonsense has only made the problem worse.

“If Conservative MPs really want to deal with the asylum backlog and save taxpayers’ money, the need to focus on fixing the asylum system they have broken and processing claims for asylum more quickly.”

Priti Patel ‘Wanted To Send Migrants To Remote Atlantic Island’

Posted on 30/09/2020 by Boris Clair

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Gay Malaysian Pensioner Granted Asylum In Time For Christmas

Posted on 23/12/2019 by Boris Clair

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