The Windrush story in Starmer's 'campaign' to let foreign criminals stay

As farmers headed to Whitehall for another protest against changes to inheritance tax, Kemi Badenoch used PMQs not to attack Sir Keir on the issue, but to question him on immigration.

It was a risky move given his party's record on the matter: just a fortnight ago, revised ONS figures showed net migration at a record level. a record of almost a million under Conservative leadership.

Ms Badenoch recently admitted the Tories got 'wrong' on immigration – so maybe feels politically capable of criticizing the government on the subject.

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She notably attacked Sir Keir over some of his work on immigration before he became Labor leader – accusing him of “demanding that foreign criminals be allowed to stay in Britain”.

This may be a line of attack we're starting to see more often – but what exactly is it about?

Speaking at PMQs, Ms Badenoch said: “Four years ago the Prime Minister signed a letter demanding that foreign criminals be allowed to stay in Britain. Dozens of Labor and Liberal Democrat MPs have repeatedly signed the letters, insisting that rapists and murderers be allowed to stay. here.”

She said one of those criminals was Ernesto Elliott, who she said had 17 convictions and killed someone after his deportation was blocked.

Ms Badenoch was referring to a letter signed by Mr Keir in February 2020, a few months before his election as leader of the Labor Party.

The letter to the then Prime Minister Boris Johnson has expressed opposition to plans to deport around 50 people with criminal convictions to Jamaica on a charter flight.

He pointed out that two years earlier, the Windrush scandal had “rocked this country” after it was established that the government had been detaining and deporting people who had a right to live in the UK for decades.

He noted that at the height of the scandal, “the government suspended charter flights because it could not guarantee that no unjustified deportations would take place.”

The letter warned that the upcoming deportation flight posed a risk of deportation of people with a Windrush claim, and called for “all further deportations” to be canceled until the Review of lessons learned from Windrush was published and its recommendations implemented.

The flight the deputies were referring to finally took off, but with 17 people instead of 50 after last-minute legal challenges.

The government lost a decision after a judge said some of the detainees had not had access to legal advice.

The Home Office had said those deported were guilty of serious crimes such as manslaughter, rape and trafficking Class A drugs.

But campaigners argued that some of those affected had lived in the UK since they were children, had committed one-off crimes when they were young and had no links to Jamaica. They claimed that this was a “double punishment”, given that these people had already served their sentences.

Those on board reportedly served a total of 75 years in prison.

Ernesto Elliott, to whom Ms Badenoch referred, was due to be put on another deportation flight on December 2, 2020, after being convicted of knife crime, according to media reports.

His deportation was blocked alongside several others following a legal challenge, and in 2023 he was convicted of the robbery and fatal beating of a man in Greenwich, London.

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Ms Badenoch accused Sir Keir of “repeatedly signing letters” – although it is not clear what she is referring to, as he did not sign the MPs' letter calling for a halt to the December deportation flight.

More than 80 black personalities campaigned against this theft, including model Naomi Campbell and historian David Olusoga.

The decision to grant a reprieve to certain people was ultimately made by the courts.

Sir Keir responded to the attack by saying he pursued criminals for five years while director of the Crown Prosecution Service and dedicated his life to locking up criminals.

He accused Ms Badenoch of failing to show a “shred of remorse” over the Tories’ failures on immigration, comparing her to “an arsonist complaining about the person who put out the fire”.