James Cleverly has claimed his parliamentary aide was making a “counterintuitive statement” for dramatic impact when he described the Rwanda policy as “crap”.
The Home Secretary mentioned James Sunderland was supportive of the policy and its deterrent impact, however was making some extent to seize the eye of his viewers.
In a recording handed to the BBC, Mr Sunderland is heard telling a personal occasion his ideas on the plan to ship asylum seekers on a one-way journey to the African nation.
Mr Sunderland, who’s standing for re-election in Bracknell, mentioned: “The policy is crap, OK? It’s crap.”
According to the BBC, within the recording from a Young Conservatives occasion in April Mr Sunderland continued by defending the plan and saying it might deter migrants from trying to cross the Channel.
He did it clearly for dramatic impact to seize the eye of the viewers. But he’s – and it’s clear within the recording – fully supportive of the deterrent impact that the Rwanda policy has
James Cleverly
Saying the “effect of the policy” was what mattered, he added: “There is no doubt at all that when those first flights take off that it will send such a shockwave across the Channel that the gangs will stop.”
Mr Cleverly advised Sky News’ Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips that Mr Sunderland was “very supportive” of the policy.
“I’ve had a conversation with him and I’ve also heard the recording. And it’s clear what he’s doing is he’s putting forward a very counterintuitive statement to grab the attention of the audience,” Mr Cleverly mentioned.
“If you actually listen to what he then went on to say, he was saying that the impact, the effect, is what matters.”
The Home Secretary added: “He did it clearly for dramatic impact to seize the eye of the viewers.
“But he’s – and it’s clear within the recording – fully supportive of the deterrent impact that the Rwanda policy has.”
In the recording, Mr Sunderland additionally criticised colleagues for “courting controversy”, naming then MPs and present Conservative candidates Jonathan Gullis and Brendan Clarke-Smith as those that “polarise opinion”, alongside former Tory Lee Anderson, who switched to Reform in March.
Mr Sunderland advised the BBC he was “disappointed” at being recorded at a personal occasion.
He mentioned: “I was talking about the response to the policy. The policy itself is not the be all and end all, but part of a wider response.”
In response to the criticism of colleagues, he mentioned he was answering a query about resignations from celebration posts by saying “unnecessary rhetoric and division in public life” was pointless.
Liberal Democrat house affairs spokesman Alistair Carmichael mentioned: “The Rwanda policy is an immoral, pricey gimmick and everybody, together with prime Conservatives, is aware of it.
“Rishi Sunak has poured a whole lot of thousands and thousands into his failing self-importance challenge – it’s a disastrous waste of cash.
“Liberal Democrats would smash these gangs placing lives in danger and repair our immigration system.”
Shadow schooling secretary Bridget Phillipson advised the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg: “If the Conservatives thought that this plan around Rwanda was going to work, that they were going to get flights off the ground, I’m not sure they would have called the election for now.”
Mr Cleverly, writing for the Sunday Telegraph, claimed the UK dangers being required to take “100,000 more illegal migrants” into the nation from the European Union if Labour joined a quota scheme for migration with the bloc.
Ms Phillipson, advised there could be a quid professional quo of accepting quotas of migrants from the EU and requested to rule it out, replied to the BBC: “What we’ve seen today is the Conservatives have been making all kinds of claims about this – the usual desperate lies that we’ve seen right throughout this campaign.”
She added: “We do want to verify we get to a place the place we’ve got higher returns agreements and, for instance, that will be round household reunification, however that will be topic to negotiation.
“We won’t be a part of any EU quota system and any suggestion of that sort is totally unsuitable.”