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A Conservative parliamentary candidate and aide to Home Secretary James Cleverly has described the government’s flagship Rwanda immigration policy as “crap”. <\/b><\/p>\n
James Sunderland, who was the MP for Bracknell from 2019 to 2024 and is running to represent the constituency again, was recorded expressing the view at a private event in April. <\/p>\n
In the recording, passed to the BBC, he is heard to say: “The policy is crap, OK? It\u2019s crap.”<\/p>\n
He goes on to defend the plan, saying it will deter migrants from trying to enter the UK by crossing the Channel. <\/p>\n
“It\u2019s not about the policy. It\u2019s about the effect of the policy,” he says. <\/p>\n
Mr Sunderland was speaking on 2 April at an event for Young Conservatives organised by a group called the True Blue Patrons Supper Club and titled: “What\u2019s it like behind the scenes at the Home Office”.<\/p>\n
He has been a parliamentary private secretary to both Mr Cleverly and Suella Braverman.<\/p>\n
Mr Sunderland is heard to say: “I have been part of this for the last two years, and I\u2019m immersed in it and I probably shouldn\u2019t\u2019 say too much. <\/p>\n
“What I would say to you is that – nobody has got their cameras on, their phones – the policy is crap, OK? It\u2019s crap.”<\/p>\n
He goes on to say: “But it\u2019s not about the policy. It\u2019s about the effect of the policy. It\u2019s the second- or third-order effects. <\/p>\n
“In Australia, for example, a similar policy had a devastating effect. There is no doubt at all that when those first flights take off that it will send such a shockwave across the Channel that the gangs will stop.”<\/p>\n
Mr Sunderland also criticises other colleagues for “courting controversy” and “polarising opinion”.<\/p>\n
He said: “I\u2019m not saying stupid things. I\u2019m not on the front page of the newspaper. I\u2019m doing my job. I can commend hard work. <\/p>\n
“If you go out and do what Jonathan Gullis does, or Brendan Clarke Smith, or Lee Anderson, go out and just court controversy, you polarise opinion. I don\u2019t want that.”<\/p>\n
Mr Gullis and Mr Clarke Smith are both former Conservative MPs and current candidates for the party. Mr Anderson was previously a Conservative MP but in March defected to Reform UK, for whom he is standing again as a candidate. <\/p>\n
Mr Sunderland told the BBC: “I am disappointed that I was recorded at a private event. I candidly answered questions. I was talking about the response to the policy. The policy itself is not the be all and end all but part of a wider response. <\/p>\n
“I never criticise colleagues publicly but was asked about the resignations of colleagues from party posts. I honestly answered that we do not need unnecessary rhetoric and division in public life.”<\/p>\n
A Conservative spokesperson said: “Not everyone will like this policy, but having an effective deterrent is the only way to stop the boats.”<\/p>\n
Labour’s Yvette Cooper, the shadow home secretary, said: \u201cThe Tories Rwanda scheme has been completely exposed as an extortionate and failing gimmick.”<\/p>\n
She added: \u201cThe Tories have been running the Rwanda scheme for 2 years. They\u2019ve sent Rwanda \u00a3300m and two volunteers.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen will the Tories come clean with the public and admit what they obviously say in private; that the Rwanda scheme is a complete con.\u201d<\/p>\n
In November, Mr Cleverly faced questions after reports claimed he had privately described the Rwanda scheme as \u201cbatshit\u201d.<\/p>\n
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