OPINION – PAUL BALDWIN: Sorry but when boats containing 230 people are arriving on our shores how else should we describe it?
A little while back I appeared on The Moral Maze on Radio 4 as its kind of tabloid press bogeyman – and I must admit I thoroughly enjoyed it. Although I was hired as the whipping boy press oik, a foil to the usual lefty highbrows, I was happy for the opportunity to correct the many tired, lazy cliches about UK tabloid newspapers so often wheeled out by the BBC.
We’ll do the tired, lazy cliches if you don’t mind, Radio 4.
Although most hacks are clearly big enough and ugly enough to handle it, the ever-present, vociferous and more than occasionally violent attacks on the ‘Mainstream Media’ (or MSM) is one of the most ill-informed smear campaigns on the internet. And Lord, but that’s a high bar. The anti-MSM rhetoric is spread by two main groups:
- Those people who have never read a newspaper in their life;
- A bot-factory in St Petersburg where, let’s be honest, the vast majority of what passes for free speech and fair comment on the internet springs from.
Border Force vessel Courageous escorted large boat into Dover (Image: Getty)
Anyway, the Moral Maze conversation swung quickly to immigration (of course it did, they had a hideous tabloid hack to put on the rack) and I was accused of labelling the unchecked illegal immigration which has been troubling the Kent shores for decades, “an invasion”.
They were completely wrong, ill-informed and had not done their homework. Like most intelligent news editors I have always ordered my reporters to steer away from words like “invasion” – because frankly a handful of blokes hanging onto the underside of a lorry chassis for grim death was not an invasion.
Although I must confess my professional resolve and conviction this wasn’t “an invasion” was weakening with every boat landing. And then Monday happened. A massive boat carrying 230 illegal migrants was helped to British shores by our Border Force chaps so they could all claim asylum.
Clock that? 230 passengers. For scale, the hydrofoil which used to zip between Calais and Dover carried 50 passengers fully laden. We are assured numbers of illegals are down this year and so they are, to a mere 15,000 so far. But they aren’t down like Australia’s are down. Dramatically tough action Down Under has reduced illegal immigration to, er, zero.
No, over here since the authorities started tracking small boat crossings in 2018 more than 200,000 migrants have landed. For comparison, when the Great Heathen Army invaded from Scandinavia in 865AD, heralding Britain’s Viking age, it’s reckoned rather fewer that 5,000 Norsemen rocked up.
I’m a man of words and am supposed to use them in their correct context – but for the life of me I can’t see why 200,000 people who have no connection with Britain and no real business being here isn’t some sort of invasion? The plucky sailors arriving by small boat by the way hail mainly from Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Eritrea, and Sudan – all nations famed for their liberal agendas and positive sexual politics, obviously.
Everything is wrong here isn’t it? The huge profits being made by firms housing bogus asylum seekers, the lawyers getting fat off our stupid, self-harming and endless, endless appeals system, the fact you cannot apply for asylum from where you live (only when you set foot on British soil – even if that is a Border Force vessel), the imbecilic championing of archaic human rights laws which no longer work either for the British people or true asylum seekers, and the constant, constant government lies.
Hands are being wrung, pearls are being clutched and nothing is being done. And this is because we no longer have the nerve to just go and do it. Politics is always painted as more complicated than it really is – largely to help stupid people look a bit cleverer. If we really want to stop the small boats then maybe the plan would be to, er, stop them. Turn them around and drop them back off at France. And worry about the very sketchy “international law” governing this practice later.
Because you know what the real world legal consequences of taking those practical steps would be? Nothing. And how do we know this? Because a few days ago socialist Spain was invaded by 79,000 would be migrants from Morocco, most of whom wished to seek asylum.
Within hours the Spanish and Moroccan militaries, using water cannons, baton rounds and rubber bullets, had sent almost all of them packing. No hand-wringing lawyers, no appeals system, just unequivocal direct action and goodbye illegals who had no business being there in the first place. Remainers (like Mr Burnham) are always enthusing that we should get more closely aligned with the EU. I think on this particular point they may be right.
Blow for Burnham – prison union chief reveals plan to stop PC Harper killers early release
Ministers have been urged to free thousands of people held on remand to create prison space.
A plan to create additional prison capacity by releasing people held on remand has been put forward as ministers face pressure over the planned early release of PC Andrew Harper’s killers.
Mark Fairhurst, chair of the Prison Officers’ Association, said thousands of people awaiting trial could potentially be bailed or fitted with electronic tags, freeing up cells for prisoners who would otherwise qualify for early release.
Mr Fairhurst said he believed there were around 17,000 people currently on remand.
Speaking to Times Radio, he said: “I’m sure we could get a couple of thousand of them bailed or tagged with the GPS tag to monitor them electronically.
“That’s an easy win for this government and I can’t understand why they don’t consider it.
“I’m positive we could free up additional space and block anybody convicted of manslaughter from early release.
“You only have to look at the remand population.”
The suggestion comes as Downing Street maintains that it is “not possible” to exclude “one or two offenders” from Labour’s early release scheme.
That means Jessie Cole and Albert Bowers could still be released within months.
A petition calling for the pair to remain behind bars had reached nearly 900,000 signatures.
There are about 950 prisoners convicted of manslaughter, the offence for which PC Harper’s killers were convicted, although around 500 are thought to be eligible for early release.
Those campaigning for Cole and Bowers to remain imprisoned have argued that the Government should prohibit early release for anyone convicted of manslaughter.
Ministers, however, have said doing so could result in prisons becoming full.
Prime Minister Andy Burnham said last week he had “pushed to the very limits of what is possible to do” by removing around 1,000 rapists, child sex offenders and groomers from eligibility for early release.
Downing Street reinforced that position yesterday, saying it could not prevent PC Harper’s killers from being released early.
Officials had examined one possible route: preventing prisoners convicted of the manslaughter of an emergency worker from being released.
But Mr Burnham’s spokesman said this was “not a standalone offence”.
The proposal is understood to have been described by officials as a “complete non-starter”.
The reason is that the Government would likely lose a legal challenge because there is no specific offence for manslaughter of an emergency worker.
The Prime Minister’s spokesman was asked whether ministers were therefore accepting the situation as it stands.
He said it was “not possible to simply exclude one or two offenders”, adding: “I think you’ve seen from the Prime Minister’s words that he’s far from accepting the situation and as he wrote last week he wants to go even further.
“He’s pushed hard on what more we could do and his focus now is on fixing the prison system long-term to avoid a repeat of this prison crisis so that it never happens again.”
The Government continues to plan the early release of around 5,000 criminals over ten months from October as it attempts to tackle overcrowding.
Cole and Bowers are among those covered by the plans.
PC Harper, who was 28, was investigating the theft of a £10,000 quad bike in Sulhamstead, Berkshire, in 2019 when he was killed.
Bowers and Cole, who were then 17, attempted to flee in a car driven by Henry Long, who was 18.
PC Harper’s ankles became caught in the vehicle’s tow rope and he was dragged along at 43mph.
Long is not eligible for early release.
The decision to potentially release Cole and Bowers has also prompted an angry response from Christopher Bushnell, a former Thames Valley Police officer who was first on the scene following PC Harper’s death.
Mr Bushnell, who retired from Thames Valley Police in 2022, recalled the lack of remorse he said the killers showed in the dock during their trial.
He said their planned early release was “absolutely outrageous”.
PC Harper’s mother shares reaction to killers’ early release
Mr Bushnell said: “We can’t change the verdict.
“They got their sentences, which were pretty pitiful, to be fair. When I first heard a couple of weeks ago there was a chance they could be let out early, I was shaking. It brought everything back.
“To think they could be released early is absolutely outrageous. I’m angry with them, but I’m also angry with the Government. They’re spitting in the face of police officers.”
Aileen O’Connor, Chair of Thames Valley Police Federation, launched the petition calling for Cole and Bowers to remain in prison.
More than 880,000 signatures had been collected by yesterday afternoon.
She said: “The public are speaking loudly and clearly. They agree with us that the Government is firmly on the wrong side of this.
“The silence from the Government on this is deafening. What they are doing is indefensible. And they simply cannot defend it. They must listen. The Prime Minister must listen.
“If you kill a police officer there should be no early release. No ifs. No buts.”
She added: “We are seeking all legal avenues…Whatever happens, we will throw everything we can at this to make sure that those responsible for killing Andrew Harper in the execution of his duty remain firmly behind bars.”