Rishi Sunak has exposed that he is all bluff and no substance
'Rishi Sunak has exposed that he is all bluff and no substance,' says Darren Grimes
PA
As the curtain falls on another year, it's high time to drag our leaders into the spotlight – especially those adept in the art of political vanishing acts. And who's the star performer? None other than Prime Minister Rishi "Houdini" Sunak and his now-you-see-it, now-you-don't pledge on the 'Stop The Boats' campaign.
Cast your minds back to January, when 'Fishy Rishi', with a dash of theatrical grandeur, vowed to halt illegal migrant crossings as a top 2023 priority. Leap forward to the present, and what's the score? A resounding zero. No target date, no plan worth its salt. Just a whirlwind of words and a sham leaving Sunak looking more transparent than a bloke bathing in Windolene.
During Sunak's 90-minute parliamentary grilling this week at the Liason Committee, he waffled and dodged more than a contestant on 'The Apprentice' facing Lord Sugar's wrath. I’ve been to 90-minute football matches in which a draw was the end result that have offered more promise. "No firm date," he mutters. Really, Rishi? Even a broken clock manages to be right twice a day. Give us something tangible!
Sure, ambition is great, but without action, it's as empty as a pint glass in a House of Commons bar. Our PM is churning out more hot air than a taxpayer-subsidised malfunctioning heat pump – all talk, no walk. It's akin to dreaming of a lottery win without ever bothering to buy a ticket. Good luck with that, Rishi!
WATCH HERE: Olivia Utley sits down with Michael Heaver
Here's the real stinger: crossings have dipped by a third since 2022, but over 29,000 illegal migrants still crossed the Channel this year. Experts reckon this is more to do with the weather than it is anything the Government has put in place. This 'progress' feels more like a tiny plaster on a gaping wound, especially when legal migration figures are ballooning to 1.3 million in the years ending June 2022 and June 2023. It's like celebrating a trickle while the floodgates are wide open.
The Rwanda asylum plan? It's on thinner ice than a contestant on 'Dancing on Ice’. It has about as much chance of winning as I do on the ice too. Reports suggest airlines are avoiding it like it's a Twitter scandal waiting to happen, refusing to commit to a contract to eject illegal entrants. Remember the scenes in Scotland? Two men set to be deported, saved by a Twitter-fuelled mob. The rule of law seems to have been ousted by the rule of the tweet. I wouldn't bet my last quid on Rishi's Old Wykehamist charm to make Rwanda our migration saviour.
Now, let's crunch the numbers. The Rwanda scheme's price tag is soaring past £290 million, and that's not counting the nearly half a billion quid we've tossed France's way to 'stop the boats’, not bad business for Mr Macron, eh? That's a fortune for a plan as unstable as the carbon footprint of a gathering of the hypocritical global elite at a UN climate summit. With an asylum case backlog longer than Hadrian’s Wall, it's clear – we need action, not empty words.
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS
Rishi SunakPAAustralia has done what our politicians suggest is impossible. The Australian Navy was given the authority to turn back boats where it was safe to do so. This practice involved intercepting boats carrying asylum seekers and either returning them to their point of departure or transferring passengers to unsinkable lifeboats that were then directed back to Indonesia. A critical component of the policy was the stance that no one who arrived by boat would be settled in Australia. Why are we unable to do the same?
As the next general election looms, this fiasco will be under the microscope. The Conservative Party is split like a cake at a centenarian's birthday bash – some backing Rwanda, others wringing their hands over international ‘rights’ treaties and a subservience to foreign courts.
My two pence? I care as much for the rights of illegal entrants as I would for a burglar in my home. If international courts and treaties don't like it, it's high time our 'Conservative' leaders showed them the door.
We've been fed tales of a right-wing shift in the Tory Party, appeasing anti-immigrant sentiment. Yet, over the last two years, more than a million newcomers have arrived. And they wonder why the public's fuming?
In the end, we're left with a heap of questions and a scarcity of answers. Will 'Stop The Boats' survive into 2024, or will it be archived like a forgotten memoir? Will the Rwanda plan soar or nosedive? Time will spill the beans.
But one thing's crystal clear: Rishi Sunak's facade has crumbled. We've been treated to a show of smoke and mirrors. As a nation, we deserve more. We deserve leaders who deliver, not just dance around with flashy footwork before vanishing. We've seen this act too often since 2010.
So, Mr. Sunak, the stage is yours. We're watching, and we're waiting. But don't hold your breath. The very existence of the Conservative Party as a mainstream political force hangs in the balance.