Boris Johnson has backed calls by Conservative rebels to harden the Rwanda deportation bill in a direct intervention on the side of those defying his successor, Rishi Sunak.
The former prime minister used the social media platform X to retweet an article by a rightwing Tory rebel, Simon Clarke, who was describing the bill as a “flawed measure” and warning he would not support it if it was amended.
“This bill must be as legally robust as possible – and the right course is to adopt the amendments,” Johnson commented.
The intervention comes amid a mounting revolt by Conservative MPs threatening to vote against the bill. They drew on a poll believed to be funded by rightwing opponents of Sunak’s leadership. It found his constituency was one of 111 where voters wanted asylum seekers removed without right of appeal.
The prime minister faces a Conservative meltdown over the Rwanda deportation bill after two deputy chairs said on Monday night they would support rebel amendments aimed at blocking international human rights laws.
Lee Anderson and Brendan Clarke-Smith have defied Sunak by backing rightwing challenges to the bill, which will be debated by parliament on Tuesday.
Conservative divisions continued to play out on Tuesday morning. Robert Jenrick, who resigned last month as immigration minister, used an article in the Daily Telegraph to accuse others of trying to “smear” amendments he had put forward on the Rwanda legislation “by saying I advance a fringe rightwing opinion”.
The MP, who has tabled a number of amendments, including one that would block the most “suspensive claims” by people against their removal, said opponents should “note” poll findings published in the Telegraph.
The results – a day after another poll showing the Tories were on course for an election wipeout and which was dismissed by the Conservative leadership as the work of individuals intent on “undermining” the party – found that in 310 of the 361 seats in England and Wales Labour is on course to win, the policy he advocated was the favoured option.
The poll was commissioned by the Conservative Britain Alliance, a previously unknown organisation described only as a “group of Conservative donors”.
Miriam Cates, another prominent rightwing backbencher, also referenced the poll in an interview with BBC Radio 4’s Today programme on Tuesday morning to support her case and made it clear she was prepared to vote down the bill. “When people hear these long arguments about areas of contested law, it doesn’t look like we are performing the will of the people. What is not contested is that we need secure borders,” she said.
Government insiders still believe they will get the committee stage of the bill through on Tuesday without amendment, although the key third reading vote on Wednesday is a steeper challenge as it would take just 29 Tory MPs to rebel, or 57 to abstain, for it to fail.
Separately, there was a fresh blow to the prime minister when the UN high commissioner for refugees (UNHCR) said the Rwanda bill and recently signed treaty with Kigali were not compatible with international refugee law.
In a new assessment of the plan, which the government revised after the UK’s supreme court in November described the policy as “unlawful”, the UN body said it “does not meet the required standards relating to the legality and appropriateness of the transfer of asylum seekers and is not compatible with international refugee law”.
It added: “As of January 2024, UNHCR has not observed changes in the practice of asylum adjudication that would overcome the concerns set out in its 2022 analysis and in the detailed evidence presented to the supreme court.
“The treaty lays out an important basis for an improved asylum system, but until the necessary legal framework and implementation capacity is established, the conclusion of the treaty in itself does not overcome continued procedural fairness and other protection gaps.”
Downing Street said it disagreed with the UNHCR assessment. The prime minister’s official spokesperson added: “I haven’t seen specifically what they have said but we have set out the summary of our legal advice and obviously we are legislating to enable us to do this.
“The UNHCR also have a partnership with Rwanda ensuring they can safely take in migrants, I think from Libya, including a number quite recently.”
