Mary Wakefield Mary Wakefield

Why did Theresa May deport my homeless friend?

The officials who flew Marc to France reassured him that he could, perhaps should, come straight back

[Getty Images/iStockphoto] 
issue 15 February 2014

I’ve heard some excellent things about our Home Secretary, Theresa May. People who work in her department say she’s bright and hard-working, and that she runs around on her hamster wheel of ministerial duties as nimbly as any political hamster could be expected to.

If she has a fault, it’s said, it’s that she doesn’t have a grand plan — the Home Office wheel spins round, but to no particular end.

Well, that’s all to the good, say my sensible friends — who wants a reforming secretary of state? No good can come of a politician with ideas. It’s the one approving thing also said about Cameron: at least he doesn’t have an agenda.

Well, I’m not so sure that isn’t a stupid thing to say. There are casualties of reform — but there are casualties of aimlessness, too, and these are often the least deserving.

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