Leaked recording reveals Tories' Dublin disorientation

Boris Johnson’s government repeatedly told the public how Brexit would mean taking back control of Britain’s borders and migration system, making it much easier to return illegal migrants crossing the Channel.

Unfortunately – and buckle up for the next bit, because it may come as a bit of a shock – his government was far from across the detail. A leaked recording from the man who is now, unaccountably, shadow home secretary shows that the then government had not realised that half of people who arrived on British shores had already claimed asylum elsewhere on the continent and could have been returned… if only the UK wasn’t leaving the bloc and its Dublin agreement.

In the leaked recording obtained by Sky News, Chris Philp – for it is he – is heard belatedly lamenting that the UK’s exit from the Dublin agreement meant the UK “can’t any longer rely on sending people back to the place where they first claimed asylum”.

Appearing to suggest Johnson’s government was caught out by the fact that leaving the EU meant no longer being a part of its asylum agreement, he went on: “When we did check it out… [we] found that about half the people crossing the Channel had claimed asylum previously elsewhere in Europe.”

Awkwardly for the hapless Philp, he can’t claim complete ignorance of the Dublin rules, given that, as immigration minister, in 2020, he was arguing that, actually, leaving the agreement would make it easier for the country to deport those with no right to be here.

In August that year, he said: “The Dublin regulations do have a number of constraints in them, which makes returning people who should be returned a little bit harder than we would like. Of course, come the first of January, we’ll be outside of those Dublin regulations and the United Kingdom can take a fresh approach.”

The Conservatives have denied that they had misunderstood the Dublin agreement, saying: “The last government did have a plan and no one – including Chris – has ever suggested otherwise.”

But Philp’s recorded comments – made in a Zoom call with all the shadow cabinet on April 28 this year, just before the local elections – are not the first to find their way to Sky News recently. A recording of shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick showing willingness to come to some sort of pact with Reform (something leader Kemi Badenoch has ruled out) was also leaked to the broadcaster not long ago.

Which poses the question – who might have in it for Badenoch and her top team?