Minister defends Lee Anderson over four-letter asylum seekers outburst
Justice Secretary Alex Chalk has defended Lee Anderson after the Conservative Party deputy chairman said asylum seekers complaining about the Bibby Stockholm barge should “f*** off back to France”.
Mr Chalk said the “indignation” of the Ashfield MP was “well placed” after just 15 migrants entered the floating accommodation off the Dorset coast on Monday.
The Government has said the barge, which was initially designed to fit about 200 people, has a 500-person capacity.
But the transfer of migrants on to the vessel has been mired in difficulty and delays amid safety concerns, local opposition and legal challenges.
Mr Chalk told LBC: “Lee Anderson expresses the righteous indignation of the British people. Yes, he does it in salty terms, that’s his style, but his indignation is well placed.”
The Justice Secretary said France is a safe country and a signatory to the European Convention on Human Rights.
“People should claim asylum in the first country – it’s not like there should be an open shopping list of where you want to go,” he said.
“He expresses himself in his characteristically robust terms but there is a lot of sense, in my respectful view, in what Lee says.”
Around 20 migrants refused to board the Bibby Stockholm on Monday because their transfers were cancelled after lawyers challenged the decisions.
F*** off
On those complaining about the accommodation, Mr Anderson told Express.co.uk: “If they don’t like barges then they should f*** off back to France.”
He added: “I think people have just had enough.
“These people come across the Channel in small boats… if they don’t like the conditions they are housed in here then they should go back to France, or better not come at all in the first place.”
Former shadow home secretary Diane Abbott, currently an Independent MP, wrote on Twitter: “A new low even for the Tories.”
Freedom from Torture, a refugee charity, said the “dehumanising and inflammatory” language would put people seeking sanctuary in the UK at “real risk”.
Natasha Tsangarides, associate director of advocacy for the organisation, said: “Time and time again, we’re seeing Government ministers amping up the cruelty of their anti-refugee rhetoric to distract from their own catastrophic mismanagement of both the asylum system and of this country.
“The dehumanising and inflammatory language used by certain politicians is putting people seeking sanctuary in this country at real risk, including the survivors that Freedom from Torture treat every day.”
Home Office figures released on Monday showed that the number of asylum seekers being housed in temporary hotel accommodation passed 50,000 in June this year – up by around 10,000 from December.
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Andersons’ mouth is ‘well placed’. A slurry pump in a cess pit. HE is not ‘well placed’ though, should be sacked immediately, suspended from parliament, recall petitioned and removed entirely from public life. In his words, he should eff off back to the rock he appeared from and crawl back under it.
Dreadful behaviour. Shame the issue of immigration to the U.K. cannot be spoken about and discussed rationally and respectfully. Campaigners divided into two camps, for and against, saints and sinners. Hardly the basis for real evaluation.
The man is hateful but so is the idea that any words should be unacceptable. There a plenty of reasons to despise him but this one is very childish. Words are just words, and that really is all they are…
So the Conservative and Unionist Party and UK Government have given the green light and say it’s completely acceptable for other parties and organisations to tell groups of people or individuals they don’t like to “f*** off”. This is great news for community cohesion and reasoned political discourse.