Skip to main content

Corbyn brings up Johnson's shady past to highlight hypocrisy of deporting one-time offenders

JEREMY CORBYN asked whether Boris Johnson today whether he should be deported because he had once “dabbled in class A drugs” and “conspired” to beat up a journalist.

The Labour leader raised the point at Prime Minister’s Questions when asking about the 50 people who were targeted for deportation to Jamaica this week, 17 of whom ended up being sent there.

Tory MPs reacted with indignation when Mr Corbyn asked if there was “one rule for young black boys from the Caribbean and another for white boys from the United States.”

The Prime Minister, who was born in New York, accused Mr Corbyn of “conflating” the Windrush generation, many of whom have been wrongly deported and denied rights, with “foreign national offenders.”

Mr Corbyn condemned the government for “trying to mislead” the public into thinking that the deportees were all serious offenders.

Campaigners, supported by 150 MPs and peers, point out that many of the offenders came to Britain as children and were detained and deported over one-off offences committed when they were young, for which they had already served prison terms.

Mr Johnson replied: “It is entirely right that foreign national offenders should be deported in accordance with the law.”

Britain’s extradition treaty with the US was slammed as “lopsided” by Mr Corbyn, who warned that Washington can request extradition in circumstances where Britain cannot.

The “deep disparity” would be further proved, he added, when the courts decide whether WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is to be extradited to the US on espionage charges and for exposing war crimes.

Mr Corbyn asked whether Anne Sacoolas, who is accused of causing death by dangerous driving when she hit teenage motorcyclist Harry Dunn while driving on the wrong side of the road near RAF Croughton in Northamptonshire, is being shielded from justice because she is reportedly a former CIA officer.

Ms Sacoolas was able to flee Britain after claiming diplomatic immunity due to her husband’s work as an intelligence analyst.

The Labour leader called on Mr Johnson to sack Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab in tomorrow’s reshuffle for “misleading” Mr Dunn’s family.

Mr Johnson said that the Foreign Office had been told that Ms Sacoolas was in Britain as a “spouse” of “no official role” and that the government was “tirelessly” seeking her extradition.

OWNED BY OUR READERS

We're a reader-owned co-operative, which means you can become part of the paper too by buying shares in the People’s Press Printing Society.

 

 

Become a supporter

Fighting fund

You've Raised:£ 10,282
We need:£ 7,718
11 Days remaining
Donate today