Britannia waives the rules

Today’s immigration headlines have a familiar feel. Twenty four hours after embarrassing revelations about a hundred thousand asylum case files being quietly written off, we now learn that at certain times over the summer, UK Border Agency staff were told not to bother checking people’s passports, or checking them against watch lists for crime and terrorism. The media are understandably dusting off old headlines about our borders being “out of control”, and the Home Office being “not fit for purpose”.

The strategy of Conservative ministers in the Home Office is already clear: on the first story, blame the previous government, and on the second, blame the officials, with a number of senior executives being named and suspended. The first strategy is reliable, though perhaps getting close to the end of its shelf life. The second is more dangerous. As a politician, saying you have been let down by civil servants is tempting not only as a media strategy, but also as a private mindset, especially at the Home Office.