The Government’s ‘small boats week’ descended into farce on Friday, as asylum seekers were taken off the Bibby Stockholm barge after traces of Legionella bacteria were found in the onboard water system.
There followed a war of words between Dorset Council and the Home Office after migrants spent four days on the vessel. The Government today insisted that it evacuated the barge as soon as ministers were notified that traces of bacteria had been detected.
The backdrop to this level of incompetence is people dying in the English Channel. Six migrants, all Afghans, drowned over the weekend as their boat capsized. All sides say their priority is to crack down on the traffickers and prevent dangerous crossings. Campaigners point to the absence of safe and legal routes while ministers focus on apparent deterrents such as Rwanda, where not a single migrant has been sent.
The reality is that between last Thursday and Saturday, more than 1,600 migrants were detected crossing the Channel. It is poor weather, seemingly more than anything else, that is the greatest deterrent. It ought now to be clear that preventing further tragedies at sea will require more than one week of headline-grabbing initiatives.
The Rayner effect
How do you solve a problem like Angela Rayner? Indeed, is she a problem at all? The Labour leader certainly once thought so, going as far as to (unsuccessfully) try to sack her after the 2021 Hartlepool by-election defeat. Instead, Keir Starmer gave his deputy more job titles.
Relations between Labour’s top two have thawed since then, while Starmer’s position remains unchallenged so long as he maintains an extensive poll lead. But tensions are never far below the surface.
From her connections to Jeremy Corbyn to her support for deselected Left-winger Sam Tarry, with whom she is in a relationship, Rayner still poses challenges for a leader’s office keen to ditch any links to the previous, discredited regime. The long-anticipated shadow cabinet reshuffle should provide some clues as to her future.
New King’s Head era
Last night the curtain came down on the King’s Head Theatre for the last time. The Islington theatre is moving to a newer, larger venue around the corner.
For more than half a century, the King’s Head Theatre has hosted shows, many of which have transferred to the West End a conveyor belt of talent.
