Home secretary Priti Patel did the rounds on TV to defend her government’s new immigration policy on 19 February. In an interview with Sky News, she made a jaw-dropping claim on a related topic that illustrates just how dishonest this government is.
No such thing
The government recently deported 17 people to Jamaica. Continuing Theresa May’s ‘hostile environment’ legacy, it originally planned to deport around 50 people, many of whom came to Britain as children.
On Sky News, Patel addressed the government’s defence for the deportations. Namely, that the people it deported were offenders, including for drug-related crimes. On the issue of drugs, Patel said:
There’s no such thing as ‘dabbling’ in drugs
Clearly, Patel’s message was: ‘anyone involved with drugs is a wrong ‘un and we are right to show them the door’.
Erm…
However, if that’s Patel’s opinion (or, indeed, the basis on which her Home Office is making deportation decisions), then she really should be rounding up people much closer to home. Because as people pointed out, a number of her own colleagues have ‘dabbled’ in drugs:
https://twitter.com/danbloom1/status/1230033336246185984
"There was a period before university when I had quite a few [spliffs] …it was jolly nice." – Boris Johnson in @GQMagazine 2007 (via @piersmorgan) but "There's no such thing as dabbling in drugs" according to Priti Patel https://t.co/3EWidQKA4O
— Southcoasting (@Jonscoasting) February 19, 2020
And there’s this https://t.co/gRgKclgJMB
— ProudGranny24 (@ProudGranny24) February 19, 2020
Do as I say, not as I do
Of course, Patel has no intention of rounding up her colleagues and throwing them on a flight or into a cell. Because as Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has said, it’s one rule for them and another for “young black boys born in the Caribbean”:
If there was a case of a young white boy with blonde hair, who later dabbled in class A drugs and conspired with a friend to beat up a journalist, would they deport that boy?
Or is it one rule for young black boys born in the Caribbean, and another for white boys born in the US?
— Jeremy Corbyn (@jeremycorbyn) February 12, 2020
The hypocrisy, dishonesty, and gall of this government really knows no bounds.
Featured image via The Telegraph/YouTube
