The new Home Secretary’s first challenge will be the fate of the Rwanda scheme, with Supreme Court judges due to rule on its legality this week. James Cleverly has been tasked with rebuilding what one insider has described as a “demoralised and rudderless” Home Office – as the fate of the flagship Rwanda policy hangs in the balance.
Staffers in the Home Office and wider refugee sector hope Mr Cleverly will take the department in a different direction, after thewill now be the one to “stop the boats”., a controversial new law designed to ensure that anyone arriving by small boat is deported and barred from ever getting asylum in the UK. But there are some distinctions between Mr Cleverly and his predecessor in their approach to the problem, which could lead to more than one Home Office pivot. Perhaps the most explicit division is over the Home Office’s use of an RAF base to house asylum seekers, which Ms Braverman said would slash the £8m being spent each day on putting them up in hotel