Something significant happened in Westminster yesterday. The Immigration Minister made a speech which showed a thorough understanding of the damage done to British society by unchecked illegal migration.
Given that combating illegal, or ‘irregular’, migration is Robert Jenrick’s core task, you may feel that such an occurrence should be treated as commonplace. But here’s the thing: it hasn’t happened before.
To have a minister close to the PM make such a speech should be acknowledged as an important breakthrough
It certainly hasn’t since the small boats phenomenon got going in earnest four years ago. The likes of Caroline Nokes, who held the post under Theresa May, or Tom Pursglove, who sat in the chair for a few weeks under Liz Truss, never got round to it.
When Boris Johnson was PM, he relegated the post of Immigration Minister to Parliamentary Under-Secretary level – the most junior rung of the ministerial ladder – and tended to make fitful and disorganised interventions on the subject himself.
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