How Sunak Went From Rwanda Plan Critic to Staking Future on It

UK PM’s shift to migration hardliner fails to stop Tory plots
Premier faces pressure from right and left on migration policy

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has made stopping the boats full of migrants crossing the English Channel a priority.Photographer: Andy Rain/EPA/Bloomberg

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By Alex Wickham and Kitty Donaldson

December 9, 2023 at 6:00 AM UTC

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In the spring of 2022, Rishi Sunak, then UK Chancellor of the Exchequer, pored over details of a tough new immigration policy devised by then Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Home Secretary Priti Patel: to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda.