Austin Mitchell in the Independent Online Edition
The fax from the minister saying he'd rejected the case was sent to my Grimsby office after it was closed and his e-mail reached me next day. Cunning that. Three days later the Bokharis arrived in Lahore to find their house daubed with the sign of the cross and occupied by squatters.
It leaves a nasty taste. An out-of-control Immigration and Nationality Directorate is doing what it wants to get deportations up. The minister goes along, ratifies its decisions (he hardly ever rejects them), observes its deadlines and strings MPs along, pretending to listen while doing nothing. Perhaps scarring young souls will teach them not to come here when they grow up.
Perhaps it will win votes to Labour from the lumpen lunatics who've deluged the Grimsby Telegraph's website with abuse of their soft, immigrant-loving, geriatric, fool of an MP. Perhaps we'll win enough National Fronters to compensate for the loss of the many liberals this has alienated. I don't know. But I do know how I feel. Ashamed.
I'm not sure how long this blog will remain a member of Bloggers for Labour. It makes me sick to see the despicable authoritarian depths to which the party in government has descended. The problem is I don't see any alternatives that don't repel me equally...
