Backbench Conservatives launch rebellion over immigration to signal impending battle for Rishi Sunak

The Home Secretary described Labour’s policy on immigration as a “vacuum”, however all Sir Keir Starmer’s party has to do is sit back and watch as the Tories rip lumps out of each other. First Rishi Sunak’s plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda for resettlement was ruled unlawful by the Supreme Court, and then record net migration numbers were revealed by the Office for National Statistics for the year to December 2022.

All this after supposedly taking back control. These twin disasters for the government have led to backbench Conservatives on the right of the party smelling blood. And in the House of Commons today, the insurrection was in plain sight. 

Cleverly and his fellow Home Office ministers ignored four separate questions from Tory MPs on whether the government would disapply or leave the European Convention on Human Rights and UN Refugee Convention if Rwanda flights are not allowed. These are some of the international treaties which the Supreme Court cited when ruling the Rwanda plan unlawful.

And they have drawn the ire of Tory MPs. While Sunak himself declared he would “not allow a foreign court to block these flights”, Cleverly has been more circumspect. I watched on today as backbenchers peppered the new Home Secretary with questions on the ECHR and international treaties, and he very noticeably refused to confirm the UK may pull out of them.

First of all, Jill Mortimer, MP for Hartlepool, asked: “Is it time to realise well intentioned international treaties and conventions agreed 70 years ago are no longer fit for purpose?” Miriam Cates, leader of the New Conservatives, a right-wing faction of the party demanding swathes of tax cuts and an immigration crackdown, asked for confirmation that Parliament “takes legal precedence over international treaties and principles”. 

Jack Brereton then asked for “categorical reassurance” that there would be legal exemptions for flights to get off the ground. Finally, former Cabinet Minister Simon Clarke said: “Can I just register my profound conviction that disapplication of elements of the ECHR and refugee conventions will be necessary.”

To all of these questions, Cleverly and his team gave the same stock answer “I will do everything I can to drive down small boat arrivals”, noticeably avoiding committing to quitting the international treaties. Remember, the Law Society said if the UK left the ECHR it would become a " pariah", like Russia and Belarus.

The rebellion didn’t stop there though. Red Waller Jonathan Gullis had the audacity to offer a 12-point plan to reduce migration, which he said the Immigration Minister “could copy and paste just to make sure that we get those figures down”, and Tory backbencher James Morris actually asked “what is our policy?”

All the time Labour and other opposition parties watched on as the battle heated up. I understand that the government is still finalising the new treaty with Rwanda, and that it may not come this week. All the delays put more pressure on Sunak, who has said he wants flights to east Africa in spring.

Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper piled in on Cleverly, who has already been involved in two “s***” related scandals within days of his new job. Summing up how the government must be feeling, she said: “Given the mess he’s inherited and his penchant for profanity, does he accept he’s now up a certain kind of creek without a paddle?”

Ralph Blackburn is NationalWorld’s politics editor based in Westminster, where he gets special access to Parliament, MPs and government briefings. If you liked this article you can follow Ralph on X (Twitter) here and sign up to his free weekly newsletter Politics Uncovered, which brings you the latest analysis and gossip from Westminster every Sunday morning.