Rudd’s enemies are losing patience with her. Trouble is, so are her friends

The government ends what has been a truly dismal week with a row over whether or not Theresa May supported ‘go home’ vans and reports that Amber Rudd privately boasted to the prime minister that she would give immigration officials greater ‘teeth’ to accelerate the UK’s deportation programme.

There is much frustration in No 10 over how this week has played out. Despite winning all Commons votes on Syria and the much-anticipated Commonwealth celebrations, what was supposed to fly the flag for global Britain has manifested into a row over hostile environments and anti-immigration rhetoric with the Windrush scandal.

Part of the difficulty is that No 10 are struggling to blame the Home Office for the debacle given that a lot of the decisions being enacted were made when Theresa May was Home Secretary. Meanwhile, Amber Rudd finds herself in a near impossible situation – unable to really defend herself as to do so would be to blame her predecessor – aka her current boss.