The UK’s incoherent Channel migrant strategy

I saw a little cloud no bigger than a man’s fist that was coming in from the sea, reported the servant of the Prophet Elijah to his master. In that Bible story, the incoming cloud was the sign of an impending rainstorm that the drought-hit land of Israel positively yearned for.

The political storm brewing in response to the dinghies coming in from the sea on the south coast of England every day will bring no such relief to Boris Johnson and his ministers.

Instead it will bring frustration and rage – the rage of voters witnessing the Government colluding in the wholesale exploitation of the asylum system by irregular economic migrants and people smugglers.

A year ago, during last summer’s commensurately smaller furore about rather fewer crossings, Boris Johnson said on ITV News: ‘We will send you back…If you come illegally, you are an illegal migrant and I’m afraid the law will treat you as such.