Rishi’s Rwanda row back shows he is hopeless at politics

Rwanda removals policy, for so long an anticipated cornerstone of the Tory re-election effort, has today officially become an ‘over the rainbow’ idea wide open to mockery from opposition parties. Not only will the deterrent impact on small boat crossings of the ‘regular drumbeat’ of flights that the Prime Minister promised us not have had time to be measured by polling day, but there won’t actually have been any flights whatsoever.

Rishi Sunak, who originally promised flights would be happening by the end of spring, confirmed in a series of interviews that the plan actually getting implemented now depends on him continuing as Prime Minister after polling day. He told the BBC that flights would take off ‘in July’ and added: ‘That’s the choice at this election.’ Pressed whether that meant the first flight would be after the election rather than before, he responded: ‘Yes’.