Immigration Scandal Offers Tories a Shot at Redemption
As the U.K. reckons with decades of skewed policy, justice for the “Windrush generation” ought to be just the beginning.
The new home secretary, Sajid Javid, is the son of a Pakistani immigrant and a Muslim.
Photographer: Chris J. Ratcliffe/Getty Images
The resignation of U.K. Home Secretary Amber Rudd on Sunday is bad news for the Conservative government on several fronts. A close ally of British Prime Minister Theresa May who had her boss's back on a number of occasions, Rudd was seen as a rising star in the Conservative Party, a potential prime minister herself and the most articulate opponent of Brexit in the cabinet.
The real problem her resignation raises, though, isn't the damage to May's already weakened government or the shifting cabinet balance toward more euroskeptic members. It is yet more confirmation that the Conservative Party's immigration policy is a mess. It embraces a "target culture" that not only hurts Britain's economic interests but damages its global reputation.