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This week’s letter begins with executive director Mike Jones’s brilliant dismantling of Boris Johnson’s specious justification of the disastrous immigration policies under his stewardship of No 10. Here’s Mike’s take:
“Boris Johnson toured the studios in the past week to promote his latest book, ‘Unleashed.” The man who promised us a post-Brexit utopia, was back in the spotlight with a familiar tactic—blame shifting. Remember when he stood at the helm in 2016, declaring that leaving the EU meant “taking back control” of immigration? Or in 2019, when he confidently assured voters that the numbers would come down? Well, the opposite happened—and on a scale so staggering, it’s almost unbelievable.
In an interview with The Sun, Johnson made yet another attempt to wriggle out of responsibility, claiming Britain needed “hands to do the work” and pointing fingers at the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) for calling in reinforcements for social care. But here’s the kicker: back in 2020, Brian Bell, the very chair of the MAC, was singing a different tune. He wrote to then Home Secretary Priti Patel, saying that the real solution to the workforce crisis in social care was proper funding so that higher wages could be paid. Funny how that got left out of Boris’s grand narrative.
And what was Johnson saying at the time? In 2021, as many on ‘X’ (formerly Twitter) have gleefully pointed out, he was on TV blaming the fall of the Roman Empire on uncontrolled immigration. “It can happen again,” he warned with his signature blend of charisma and alarmism. Fast forward to today, and he’s conveniently trying to link the explosion in immigration numbers during his tenure to the need to “deal with inflation” after the pandemic. But is anyone buying it?”
Mike is spot on. Priti Patel, another member of the Johnson government who now tries to pass the buck, made similar claims when she was angling for leadership. She argued that the post-pandemic influx of immigrants was needed to boost Britain’s workforce—specifically to tackle NHS waiting lists by bringing in more doctors. But here’s the rub: under her system, which was introduced in 2021, the number of health and care visas barely rose for doctors and nurses. Instead, the major increase was in care workers, with a system so lax that it might as well have been an open door into the UK.
Let’s not forget that Boris’s grand post-pandemic explanation is also, unsurprisingly, riddled with inaccuracies. The groundwork for these immigration reforms, including much of the liberalisation of the system, was laid long before COVID-19 reared its ugly head. Much of it happened under Sajid Javid’s watch. So, to pin this on the pandemic is a convenient and transparent dodge.
But why did Boris and his government really allow the floodgates to open? One compelling theory is that they were using immigration as a form of “kicking the can down the road” – importing labour to avoid making the hard, costly decisions that real growth demands. Instead of investing in homegrown talent and skills, they opted for the quick fix: bring in cheap foreign labour. And now, with the Tories pushed to the political sidelines, they’re trying to rewrite the past to save face.
Just look at the HGV driver shortage in 2021. The government could’ve panicked and thrown open the borders to more European drivers. Instead, employers had no choice but to raise wages—by as much as 40% in some cases. The government also rolled out a series of smart reforms, including training programs for younger, would-be drivers. It worked. The shortage was alleviated without relying on a flood of foreign labour. It’s a perfect example of what can happen when you prioritise domestic workers over the easy option of importing cheap labour.
But Boris, ever the revisionist, would rather gloss over these lessons. He’s still peddling the idea that his decisions were all about responding to crises like the pandemic. Don’t be fooled. His failure to deliver on immigration is one of the key reasons his party has crumbled in 2024. He may have been great at winning elections, but when it came to actually running the country, Boris was always bluffing.
His charm and wit are undeniable—we wouldn’t still be talking about him otherwise. But let’s face it, Boris doesn’t tell it like it is. Sometimes, it seems he doesn’t even tell it like he thinks it is. And no amount of charisma can make up for the fact that he’s been woefully bad at using the power he so eagerly sought.
Fact is, the present calamitous level of net migration, which added one percent to our population in just one year, has so much to do with Boris Johnson’s government not just failing to get a grip of immigration but adding fuel to the fire by caving to vested interests. If it continues at these stratospheric levels, migration and the children born to migrants will add another 20 million people to our population within the next 25 years. The equivalent of another 18 cities the size of Birmingham. And within 40 years or so, the ethnic minority element of the population (all hues) will become the majority.
This is a preview of Migration Watch’s free weekly newsletter. Please consider signing up to the newsletter directly, you can do so here and will receive an email copy of the newsletter every week as soon as it is released.