Establishment Media More Critical of UK’s Illegal Immigration Crackdown Than Russia’s Invasion, Says Boris

Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson delivers a statement outside 10 Downing Street in c
BEN STANSALL/AFP via Getty Images
Kurt Zindulka

Boris Johnson reportedly lashed out against the BBC and the woke Archbishop of Canterbury for being more concerned about his proposed crackdown on illegal immigration than Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Fresh on the heels of offering another grovelling apology over violating his own lockdown restrictions on Tuesday, Prime Minister Boris Johnson went on the offensive during a meeting of Tory MPs targeting popular targets of right-wing disdain including the nation’s state-funded broadcaster and the left-wing Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby.

According to a report from The Telegraph, the Prime Minister accused the BBC and Welby of being “less vociferous” in their condemnation of the invasion of Ukraine than their criticisms of the government’s plan to fly illegal boat migrants to Rwanda to deter further people smuggling amid record numbers of illegals crossing the English Channel.

Mr Johnson is also said to have claimed that his government’s migrant plan had been “misconstrued” by the BBC and the Archbishop.

In his Easter Sunday address to the nation, Archbishop Justin Welby, the most senior bishop in the Church of England, said that sending illegal migrants to Rwanda to have their asylum claims processed “is the opposite of the nature of God”.

In the profoundly political sermon that was broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on Sunday, Welby said that while the details of immigration policy should be left up to politicians, he said: “The principle must stand the judgement of God and it cannot.

Defending the plan to ship illegal boat migrants to Rwanda, Home Secretary Priti Patel said in the House of Commons on Tuesday that the widespread criticism of the East African nation by the left was “deeply, deeply egregious” and “xenophobic”, noting that EU nations have previously found Rwanda a safe country to send asylum seekers to.

Patel went on to accuse left-wing critics of the plan of hiding their true motivations, accusing them of being in favour of “open borders” and against any limits on migration to the country.

Taking aim specifically at the Archbishop of Canterbury, Tory MP Andrea Leadsom said that Welby’s invocation of God to denounce the scheme was “absolutely abhorrent and inexplicable” and added that critics of the scheme have “completely forgotten the images of children lying drowned on our beaches”.

There are concerns, however, that the plan will likely face legal challenges that may prevent any shipments of migrants from ever getting off the ground.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said that his government is anticipating left-wing activist lawyers and institutions to try to derail efforts to house asylum seekers in Rwanda and that the government will look to change legal frameworks on migration and asylum if necessary.

Yet, the Prime Minister has not committed to finally freeing the UK from the European Convention on Human Rights, which still has legal authority over the country despite it leaving the European Union two years ago.

Follow Kurt Zindulka on Twitter here @KurtZindulka

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