Thunder and lightning over London on Tuesday as the heavens opened.
And political storm clouds gathered over 10 Downing Street, as Rishi Sunak tries desperately to quell mutiny among Conservative party rebels ahead of a make-or-break immigration vote on his flagship Rwanda asylum bill.
It came as the Prime Minister saw his public ratings on managing immigration hit a new low in an Ipsos UK survey for the Standard.
The poll of just over 1,000 people found 79 per cent of respondents, including three-quarters of Tory supporters, believe ministers are doing a bad job on immigration.
While, just 24 per cent of respondents said they believe Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour party would do a better job.
Sixty-nine per cent of people surveyed said they are dissatisfied with Sunak, up three points since November.
The prime minister began his Tuesday trying woo MPs to push through his key asylum bill that would see illegal migrants sent to Rwanda.
At a Downing Street breakfast, the PM held 11th hour crisis talks with rebel colleagues, where smoked salmon was served and Sunak hoped to charm and cajole them into falling in line behind his controversial policy.
The bill allows ministers to disapply some parts of the Human Rights Act regarding deportation flights to Rwanda, restricting possible legal challenges, but does not go as far as overriding the European Convention on Human Rights.
It also declares that the east African country is a “safe” place to send asylum seekers and economic migrants who arrive in the UK by “small boats” after a new treaty was signed with Kigali.
Labour was going to vote against the bill on Tuesday evening, which human rights group Amnesty International branded an “outrageous attack on the very concept of universal human rights”.
The Standard podcast’s joined by the Standard’s political editor Nicolas Cecil.
Listen above, or wherever you find your podcasts.
