Hot summer, drippy autumn. Ed Miliband’s performances have declined steeply after
the heady highs of July. He came to PMQs today badly needing to fight like a champion. Things looked rosy for him at the weekend. And they got better overnight.
We learned that a pilot scheme to fast-track incoming tourists last summer had allowed Britain’s border controls to slip so far that visiting bombers and convicted sex-criminals were being greeted at Heathrow with high-fives, goody-bags and a slice of Theresa May’s blueberry tart. Or so it seemed.
Worse still, a suspended UKBA official, Brodie Clark, had contradicted the Home Secretary’s statement and was threatening her with unfair dismissal proceedings. Useful stuff for Labour. The image of Al Qaeda flash-mobs dancing through the Nothing-to-Declare gate at Terminal 5 is emotive and politically dangerous.
Miliband’s first question — ‘how many entered the UK under the relaxed controls system?’ — elicited a reply from Cameron so crammed with detail that Miliband couldn’t pick out the right bit to attack him with.
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