18 August 1979: Second class justice for immigrants

Since we launched The Spectator Archive, the most read piece has been the first ever published article by one Anthony Blair in 1979, before he switched to the more informal Tony. Here, the future Labour Prime Minister examines how immigrants were unfairly treated by the British justice system. Reportedly, the article was only printed because Blair was turned down from the New Statesman. Many thanks to @JohnRentoul for digging up this article.

Last week’s case of the Patel children, three Indian boys who were deported from England on Tuesday after delay, and ministerial embarrassment, emphasised the uncertainty and ambiguity which surround the status of immigrants in this country. In fact, the experience of the Patels was by no means an unusual one — and the working, of the Immigration Act can have even more severe consequences, as the Hassan family discovered to their cost.

They were asleep in their Birmingham home, where they had lived for 4.5.