Thread by @docrussjackson

#THREAD

Today is one of Britain’s most shameful days ever: a stain on Britain’s reputation as a tolerant, fair-minded, lawful, democratic and welcoming country.

The barbaric #RwandaPlan was dreamed up following the #PartyGate scandal, as part of ‘Operation Save Big Dog’.

The #RwandaPlan was announced on 14th April 2022 by disgraced lawbreaking liar & former PM Boris Johnson, who in a speech at Dover falsely claimed it could potentially see Rwanda “resettle tens of thousands of people in the years ahead”, & claimed it would cost £120 million.

In reality, the capacity of the proposed facility in #Rwanda is 200 people/year, representing 0.7% of 2023 small boat arrivals.

The ACTUAL cost will be £1.8 MILLION for EACH of the first 300 deportees. There is ZERO evidence it will have a deterrent effect or be value for money.

Also on the 14th April, shameless liar, propagandist & disgraced former Home Secretary Priti Patel falsely claimed that “at the heart of this approach is fairness so that access to the UK's asylum system is based on need & not on the ability to pay people smugglers.”

#RwandaPlan

In 2020, in response to a number of deaths in the Channel, Patel suggested many migrants were seeking to cross the Channel to Britain because they believed France was a "racist country" where they may be "tortured", & vowed to make the Channel "unviable" for migrant boats.

On 3 September 2020, Patel tweeted that the removal of migrants from the UK was being "frustrated by activist lawyers". In response the Bar Council accused Patel of using "divisive and deceptive language" and she was accused of having "a corrosive effect on the rule of law".

Concerns about Patel's rhetoric resulted in an intervention by Lord Chancellor Robert Buckland & attorney general Suella Braverman after a far-right terror attack at a solicitors' office, four days after Patel's tweet, was linked to her comments.

https://x.com/docrussjackson/status/1521987123619979265

In a trial run for the #RwandaPlan, in September 2020, Patel suggested that Ascension Island, which is more than 4,000 miles from the UK, could be used to build an asylum processing centre - an idea originating in #TuftonStreet's Policy Exchange.

https://x.com/docrussjackson/status/1688816996589146112

In late 2020, a Cabinet Office inquiry found Patel had breached the ministerial code, following allegations of bullying.

In March 2021, she published a New Plan for Immigration Policy Statement, which included the possibility of offshore processing of undocumented immigrants.

In April 2021, 192 refugee, human rights, legal and faith groups signed a letter which condemned a six-week consultation, organised by the Home Office, on these proposals. Signatories of the letter described the consultation as "vague, unworkable, cruel and potentially unlawful".

In June 2021, Patel criticised the England football team for kneeling against racism

Following the November 2021 Channel disaster, in which 31 people died, the French Govt withdrew an invitation to Patel to attend a meeting about the boats crisis.

theguardian.com/world/2021/nov…

On 5 September 2022, in anticipation of the appointment of Liz Truss as Prime Minister, Patel tendered her resignation as Home Secretary which was effective from 6 September.

Suella Braverman was appointed Home Secretary in the new Truss ministry on 6 September 2022.

Braverman pushed the #Rwanda Plan - reminiscent of the Nazis' heinous Madagascar Plan - & began using grotesque" un-British, English nationalist "invasion" rhetoric, & the antisemitic 'Cultural Marxism' conspiracy theory, which inspired Anders Breivik.

https://x.com/docrussjackson/status/1634109219149426689

Sensible analysis of the causes of the increase in asylum seekers coming to Britain, or of more effective, realistic & cost-effective solutions, such as dramatically reducing the backlog of asylum claims, were not even considered by Braverman or the Govt.

https://x.com/docrussjackson/status/1648254801048633345

The immoral, cruel, ineffective, unlawful & extremely expensive #RwandaPlan was NEVER about dealing efficiently & fairly with asylum seekers, nor about 'stopping the boats', nor 'preventing people smuggling. It was always about manipulating public opinion.

https://x.com/docrussjackson/status/1514594943888723971

The UK branch of the UN's refugee agency #UNHCR correctly warned agreements like the #RwandaPlan were often “eye-wateringly expensive, often violate international law, lead to the use of widespread detention [and] lead to more smuggling, not less.”

https://x.com/UNHCRUK/status/1514515961755451395

Enver Solomon, CEO of the Refugee Council, called it a “cruel & nasty decision”, correctly predicting it would not stop people-smuggling gangs, & asserted that “it will do absolutely nothing to address the reasons why people take perilous journeys to find safety in the UK.”

Defending the #RwandaPlan, serial proven liar Boris Johnson said that he was confident it was “fully compliant” with the UK’s international legal obligations (it isn't), & in a massive understatement, said “I know that this system will not take effect overnight.”

The @Conservatives - like every far-right & fascist party in history - ALWAYS relies on the abhorrent political strategy of 'divide & rule', and ALWAYS returns to demonising some minority or other, migrants, 'benefit scroungers', unions, intellectuals, & the left in general.

The @Conservatives - again like every far-right & fascist Party throughout history - ALWAYS seek to take advantage of any manufactured, real, or totally imaginary 'crisis', positioning themselves as the ONLY Party who can 'save us' - just like Richard Tice's Reform is doing now.

The #RwandaPlan is a perfect distillation of 'divide & rule' & the exploitation of 'a (manufactured) crisis', dreamed up by Priti Patel, who was trained in the dark arts of manipulation when she was a corporate lobbyist working on behalf of Big Tobacco.

https://x.com/docrussjackson/status/1230054586586730497

Every single post-war UK #GE & opinion poll reveals that around 66% of UK adults do not want & do not vote for right-wing Govts, so they have to rely on 'divide & rule': since April 2022, the #RwandaPlan has been constantly in the news, whipping up division, fear, anger & hatred.

The #RwandaPlan has acted as a catalyst for the @Conservatives & the 'political centerground' to be pushed ever further right. It will not 'stop the boats', but it will be an expensive waste of taxpayers money, & have 'unintended consequences' such as asylum seekers disappearing.

While the #RwandaPlan did not 'Save Big Dog', it certainly helped to turn Britain into a dangerously polarised, intolerant, cruel, unlawful, antidemocratic, authoritarian & unwelcoming country, & significantly increased incidents of far-right terrorism.

https://x.com/docrussjackson/status/1407972641764524039

TBF, the @Conservatives may have finally achieved what 14 years of opposition has failed to do, namely: to accidentally manufacture the desire of the overwhelming majority of the British people to vote the nasty fuckers into oblivion.

#RwandaNotInMyName

https://x.com/docrussjackson/status/1782554293871993133