In two weeks’ time, the Conservative party faces the prospect of heavy local election losses in England. If they are severe enough, the losses could shatter the fragile faith that Rishi Sunak has managed to instil among his MPs that he is their best bet for survival. Talk of Boris Johnson’s return, stilled for the past month, would rekindle. Mr Sunak and his advisers are deeply aware of the imminence of this moment of political vulnerability. That awareness explains the dirty deal that the prime minister made this week with his rightwing critics on the illegal migration bill.
The Tory critics think that the bill – which attempts to deter asylum seekers from crossing the Channel and gives the government powers to send them to a third country that the home secretary deems safe, such as Rwanda – is too feeble and risks being ineffective. Among several changes they seek to the bill, they want the home secretary to have powers to ignore interim injunctions by the European court of human rights (ECHR) to halt such deportation flights.
