Latest updates: foreign secretary says flights would deter people from crossing Channel while bishops in the House of Lords say policy ‘shames Britain’
Johnson claims his cabinet more pro-migrant than many previous ones because of ministers' backgroundsaddressing cabinet this morning and, for anyone interested in political iconography, it is well worth watching. Presumably No 10 is now increasingly inviting in the cameras to record Johnson’s opening pep talk to his ministers
But there is something very politburo about the whole set-up. While Johnson is delivering his spiel, cabinet ministers are reduced to appearing like extras on a film set, and not all of them seem happy about that. At one point Rishi Sunak, the chancellor, looks as if he would rather be undergoing root canal surgery.
There are even more people around this table who aren’t lawyers ... but whose immediate ancestors came to this county to seek a new life here, many of us [Johnson’s great grandfather was a Turkish politician who sought refuge in Britain] whose ancestors came in fear of their lives and fleeing persecution.