Suella Braverman has had a taste for scandal and, apparently, she likes it. In the latest saga, she’s called Channel crossings an “invasion on our southern border”. But if you’re shocked, you haven’t been paying attention. These are no longer the days when such comments can be cast off as the spit-filled ramblings of red-faced Farageans. These are the days in which the Home Secretary herself dreams of jetting refugees to Rwanda in body restraints. The medium has shifted to the right, and the parameters of acceptability with it. “Right” may not be a fair characterisation: this is not a slide towards conservatism, it’s a slide away from compassion.
What does it even mean to be a home secretary anymore? The brief has been consumed by incendiary political warfare, with real policy falling by the wayside. Just as the Home Secretary is a guardian of borders, so too should she be a granter of asylum. But that is no longer what it means to be home secretary. Asylum has been redefined from a human rights issue to a security one (the trafficking brief has literally changed departmental hands). Of course, there are relevant security concerns when it comes to those seeking asylum, but they should not be the only concerns.
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