A CONSERVATIVE member told the Question Time panel that his only reason for remaining in the party is to oust Boris Johnson during a charged episode of the political debate show from Newcastle.
During a segment in which one audience member suggested refugees fleeing to the UK could be “rapists or murderers”, one man stood up against the Government’s “incompetent” Rwanda policy.
“It’s absolutely incompetent, incompetence in the Home Office,” the Tory member said.
READ MORE: UK Government already preparing replacement Rwanda flight after ECHR ruling
He directed the comments to Matt Vickers, a Tory MP and parliamentary private secretary in Priti Patel’s Home Office.
“What on Earth is going on?” he asked the MP. “Regardless of the policy, this just strikes of incompetence which is through and through in this government in every single department.”
Asked by host Fiona Bruce if the Rwanda policy made him question his Conservative membership, the audience member responded brutally: “The only reason I’m a member of the Conservative Party now is to get rid of Boris Johnson.”
The intervention came after Johnson's deputy Dominic Raab defended the policy on Thursday. The first flight taking refugees over to Rwanda was due to take off on Tuesday, but failed amid a series of legal challenges.
Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab, who is also Justice Secretary, defended the scheme as a “sensible, proportionate plan” despite the legal intervention from the European Court of Human Rights.
Defending the contrast between the Rwanda plan and the visa scheme welcoming Ukrainians, Raab claimed refugees from Afghanistan and Syria need to be vetted in a different way from those from Ukraine because of a “history and track record of terrorism” in the Middle Eastern countries.
READ MORE: UK's 'xenophobic' policies slammed by SNP MP as Raab plots major rights changes
Later, Downing Street insisted that the option of leaving the European Convention on Human Rights entirely remained an option despite Raab’s suggestion that domestic legal changes could resolve some of the problems preventing the Rwanda deportations from taking place.
The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: “It is fair to say we have not made a final decision on next steps.”
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here