The International Campaign for Real History

Posted Thursday, April 1, 2004

[] Index to the Traditional Enemies of Free Speech
[] Alphabetical index (text)
AR-Online

Quick navigation

The Independent


London, Thursday, April 1, 2004

 

Minister quits over immigration row

HOME Office minister Beverley Hughes has resigned because she misled Parliament over the row about her handling of eastern European immigration, Downing Street said today.

click for origin

David Irving comments:

WELL, NOW, let's see, which other minister has deliberately misled Parliament in recent memory, and should suuffer the consequences? Hewn in letters of MGM-granite, the phrase "weapons of mass destruction" trips inexorably into view.
   At least no lives were lost or taken on account of Ms Hughes' stupid deception.

See my earlier comments in AR-Online.

The Prime Minister's official spokesman said Ms Hughes quit after it had become clear she had given a "misleading impression - albeit unwittingly" to MPs.

The news emerged less than two hours before the Prime Minister was due to face the press at his monthly news conference.

Ms Hughes has been embroiled in a scandal centred on allegations that the Home Office "rubber-stamped" immigration applications from eastern Europe despite warnings from embassies that many were based on bogus documents.

The issue erupted into a full-blown political storm at Prime Minister's Questions in the Commons yesterday, when Conservative leader Michael Howard accused the Government of cutting asylum figures by ordering officials to wave through other applications based on forged papers.

 

THE civil servant whose revelations first sparked the row was today appearing before a Home Office disciplinary hearing.

Steve Moxon was expected to be quizzed over his disclosure to a newspaper that key checks were being waived for visa applicants from countries due to join the EU on May 1.

Mr Moxon was suspended from his post at the Sheffield office of the Immigration and Nationality Directorate after he exposed details of the scheme, codenamed Operation Brace, to a newspaper.

Further disclosures came from the British consul in the Romanian capital Bucharest, James Cameron, who said visas were being issued on the basis of plainly-forged documents claiming applicants wanted to set up in business.

Mr Cameron, too, has been suspended and senior immigration service manager Ken Sutton has been ordered by Mr Blair to investigate the charges.

It has also emerged that the Foreign Office complained nearly two years ago that the Home Office was allowing bogus applications from Bulgaria.

The charge followed a fact-finding mission to the capital Sofia by Sir John Ramsden, head of the Foreign Office central and north-west Europe department.

Visa applications from Bulgaria and Romania have now been suspended.

Mr Moxon last night said he expected to be cleared of wrong-doing because he had complained to senior officials and attempted to bring his concerns to the attention of ministers before going public.

His actions were covered by the Public Interest Disclosure Act, introduced by the Labour administration in 1998 to protect "whistle-blowers", he said.

"Not only is it in all respects reasonable for me to have behaved in the way I did, but I would have failed in public duty not to have done so.

"I fully expect that the Home Office will find that I have indeed complied with the terms of the Act and that therefore there are no grounds whatsoever to take disciplinary action against me."

The beleaguered immigration minister insisted on Tuesda, [March 30, 2004] that her conscience was clear over the allegations -- and she received the full backing of her boss, Home Secretary David Blunkett and the Prime Minister.

The Tories called for Ms Hughes to resign after it emerged that the Home Office had been warned 18 months ago of an "organised scam" involving Romanian and Bulgarian applicants for permission to stay in Britain.

In a stormy Commons debate, shadow home secretary David Davis accused her of presiding over a "catastrophic failure" in the immigration system, which had seen embassy warnings of bogus applications routinely ignored by officials at the Immigration and Nationality Directorate (IND).

And Tories accused her and Mr Blunkett of trying to palm off blame on to lowly civil servants, after the Home Secretary said it should be "common sense" for officials to reject applications based on forged or fraudulent documentation.

Mr Blunkett offered a staunch defence of his minister, telling MPs: "She has our unequivocal backing and will continue to do so."

He announced the suspension of all immigration applications from Romania and Bulgaria while an internal investigation is carried out.

And Ms Hughes -- who has been under constant flak since allegations of systematic waiving of checks on would-be immigrants from eastern Europe were first aired three weeks ago -- was defiant.

"I am not resigning, because my conscience is clear," she told MPs. "I am neither incompetent nor dishonest and I intend to continue doing my job as long as the Prime Minister and Home Secretary want me to."

On the same day, Tony Blair made clear she retained his support.

His official spokesman said: "The Prime Minister believes Beverley Hughes is a first-rate minister and the job that she does is probably one of the toughest jobs outside Cabinet."

© 2004 Independent Digital (UK) Ltd

 

 Whistleblower suspended in Britain's immigrant row: Minister faces calls to quit over 'lax' entry checks from new Europe | and David Irving's commentary
 British immigration minister Beverley Hughes lied: she did personally authorise opening gates to tens of thousands of immigrants
 Home Office told of immigration scam 18 months ago, claims Davis

The above item is reproduced without editing other than typographical

 Register your name and address to go on the Mailing List to receive

David Irving's ACTION REPORT

or to hear when and where he will next speak near you

© Focal Point 2004 F Irving write to David Irving