Government is difficult but there is at least one basic principle to political communication: talk about popular things. If the economy is growing, that’s all that matters. If exam results are up, what could be more important than our children’s education? If NHS waiting lists are falling, this is evidence of the plan working. The converse is also true: don’t draw attention to your failings – that’s what the opposition is for.
So it is in some ways a curiosity that the Conservatives have taken the second week of August to raise the salience of immigration and asylum policy. Today, we had the first asylum seekers arriving on the Bibby Stockholm barge, briefings on a processing centre at Ascension Island and greater fines for businesses that employ illegal immigrants.
