Thread by @gameoldgirl

A #Windrush thread

Theresa May has met Caribbean leaders to talk about the treatment of the #windrushgeneration. Yesterday Downing Street refused such a meeting. But she’s changed her mind.
The Daily Mail thinks that was because it told her to. It may well be right.

The Mail has clout. It can change things for the better when it puts its mind to it. This could be described as good #journalism.
But good journalism (imho) also requires giving the reader the full story, not just the convenient bits.

Today’s paper includes a ragout from its Saturday essay, headlined “What an outrage!” (You may have missed it or not realised what it was about – that could be the heading on almost any Saturday essay).

It told the story of a man who was told he must pay £54k for cancer treatment because he couldn’t show he had the right to live in Britain, his home for 44 yrs.

The essay explains that his plight was down to “draconian new immigration policies” introduced in 2012 that required paperwork “which few British citizens could provide”.

(This from the paper that is constantly seeking a clampdown on “health tourism” and better checks to prove that patients are entitled to treatment here.)

Ever reluctant to serve compassion unadorned with bile, the Mail reminds us of nasty foreign crooks and illegal immigrants. Then it parks another story alongside about immigrants driving up house prices (which in other circs, the Mail regards as a good thing).

Anyway, at least it dug out the injustice to the Windrush man it calls Albert Thompson.
That involved reading all the way down to the ninth paragraph of a story by @ameliagentleman in the Guardian last Tuesday.

Why was it so low in that feature? Because @Ameliagentleman had written about him several times before over the previous month. Letters had been written to the PM, Corbyn had spoken about him. An appeal had raised money for for his treatment. None of this was reported in the Mail

Oh, and @BhmUK had petitioned the Government about the #windrushgeneration petition.parliament.uk/petitions/2165…
By last week @Ameliagentleman had moved on to other cases.

Still, better late than never. @theguardian has a tenth of the Mail’s circulation and doesn’t have the ear of government. The Mail’s “campaign” may have been decisive.
And @ameliagentleman must be delighted that it's picked up another of her case studies.

Now it is gunning for Amber Rudd. People are calling for her to be sacked. The Home Office is a shambles. The PM is “furious”.
But there is one key point the paper hasn’t mentioned: The Home Secretary who introduced the “draconian” immigration policy in 2012 was one Theresa May

She wanted to create a “hostile environment” – she really used that phrase – for illegal immigrants and those who outstayed their welcome, making it hard for them to get jobs, healthcare, benefits.

In 2011, she told the Tory conference about some of the changes she planned and was applauded for them in the Mail.

She made another important speech the following year, spelling out more measures she was taking, repeating the pledge to reduce immigration to tens of thousands. This was the Mail’s coverage of her appearance.

Immigration is of abiding concern to the Mail.

As Home Secretary, Theresa May was responsible for policy for six years. She introduced “go home” vans. She lied about a man being saved from deportation because of his cat. She blamed courts and the EU for problems she had the powers to address herself.

She introduced the “hostile environment” policy that has led to injustice and stress for the #windrushgeneration.

As Prime Minister, she was made aware of its impact, if only on Albert Thompson – a case described by her Mail cheerleaders as an outrage. She refused to intervene. She was asked to meet Caribbean leaders and said No. Only after yesterday’s outcry did she relent.

When Cameron suggested bombing Syria in 2013, the Mail was stridently against. When Blair went to war in Iraq, the Mail was stridently against. When May prepared to bomb Syria, the Mail gave her a gentle warning not to.

Today it has equally gently rebuked her for not agreeing straight away to meet the Caribbean leaders. But it has ignored her role in creating this mess.

Because everything comes down to #Brexit. The Mail is backing May to deliver. Nothing must be said or done to undermine her. #TeflonTheresa

PS:
If the Mail is self-aggrandising in its role in this story, at least it recognised injustice (eventually) and tried to get something done.
This head in the Telegraph is jaw-dropping. "Granted" an apology? Lord help us.
Have a nice day.

And another thing (sorry)
Thanks to @Wirral_In_It for sending me to Hansard and the 3rd reading debate on the 2014 immigration bill. Here May defends her hostile environment policy and Lab MPs point out the dangers.
publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201314/cm…

And there’s yet more:
Further evidence of May’s fingerprints on this debacle...
amp.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/a…

And in case it wasn't clear earlier (sorry, this monster has so many tentacles), the Mail is heaping ordure on Remainer Rudd because...
Remember this? Poor Boris and a cross between Tootsie and Mary Whitehouse?