UK small boats policymakers referred to ‘bloody migrants’, says civil servant

Rowaa Ahmar says she believes ‘speaking up against racism was a career death sentence’ at the Cabinet Office taskforce. Photograph: georgeclerk/Getty Images/iStockphoto

A senior civil servant has said Cabinet Office officials making policy on small boats referred to “bloody migrants” and were expected to “leave their humanity at the door”.

Rowaa Ahmar withdrew a tribunal claim alleging “unrelenting and systemic” racism in the department on Wednesday but said she stands by the substance of it.