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It doesn’t get any more ‘Suella Braverman’ than this. The Home Secretary has been in Rwanda this weekend, admiring the fruits of her controversial plans to send migrants reaching Britain over to the landlocked African nation.
The Rwanda policy is one of the most contentious proposals in our recent political history. Even now, with migrant detention centres being constructed at a rapid pace, the plan still faces a number of legal hurdles before it gets an official green-light.
Nonetheless, the Conservatives are pushing ahead with it. Suella Braverman’s trip to Rwanda also extended an invite to a specific cohort of right-wing reporters, with journalists from The Guardian and The BBC ‘frozen out’ of the coverage.
That somewhat neatly sums up the whole situation. Braverman is confident that the first flights taking migrants from the UK to Rwanda will depart this summer. In fact, she seems fairly relaxed about the entire operation.
While speaking with aligned members of the media, the senior Tory found time to crack wise. Doing her best to ignore the humanity of refugees and migrants alike, Braverman decided it was appropriate to deliver a one-liner about the detention centre’s decor.
“What is impressive is the pace of your roll out. It takes two weeks to construct a house with a team of 10 people. These houses are really beautiful, high quality, welcoming and I quite like your interior designer. I need some advice myself.” | Suella Braverman
The Telegraph lapped-up the quip, giving Braverman a generous splash in their weekend edition. Meanwhile, the problematic press pack invited to Rwanda has infuriated Peter Stefanovic, and the political commentator has described the whole charade as ‘shameful’.
“The government’s illegal migration bill is a breach of our obligations under the Refugee Convention & European Convention on Human Rights. The PM and his Cabinet know it, they are lying to the public to force it through, and this is the story? Absolutely shameful.” | Peter Stefanovic
