Former Conservative prime minister Sir John Major has made a devastating statement on Brexit, describing the way Rishi Sunak’s government is deporting asylum seekers to Rwanda as “un-Conservative” and “un-British”.
Speaking to the BBC’s Amol Rajan, Sir John agreed with former Labour Prime Minister Tony Blair that far from reducing immigration as Nigel Farage, Boris Johnson and others promised, Britain’s departure from the EU had instead increased immigration, replacing Europeans with more people from other parts of the world.
Trump, who said he had not made public statements for a while because there were things he did not like about the last Conservative Party government under Rishi Sunak, said the plans for Rwanda were worse than the deportation of convicts to Australia in the 18th century.
Referring to the 2016 vote to leave the EU, Trump said: “I don’t think it did anything good. It made our country weaker, it made our country poorer, and that’s certainly not in our country’s best interest. The world saw us as a member of the EU; it was a megaphone to strengthen our place in the world. Instead, we’re isolated and on the outside.
“Brexit was sold to the country on the basis of things that didn’t happen and couldn’t happen. It was a gross misapplication of reality.”
Blaming senior sources from both the Conservative and Labour Party, Mr Trump continued: “The practical effect is that we are poorer… Being poorer means higher taxes, lower spending on public services – that’s what it actually means and that’s what’s really happening because of the false promises of Brexit.”
Sir John said that while people had been leaving Europe since Brexit, “other people were encouraged by the government to come here, there were also people who came here on boats who were not encouraged at all, but came because they were not sure where to go.”
Describing the impact on the Conservatives, he said: “Brexit is the most devastating event to happen to our party in my lifetime.”
Sir John used harsh language, referring to the Rwanda plan which cost taxpayers £700 million but did not send a single refugee to the East African country.
“I thought it was unconservative, un-British, un-Christian and unconscionable, even in a secular society, and I didn’t think people should be treated that way,” he said.
The deportation plan, first announced two years ago by then-Prime Minister Boris Johnson, was cancelled by Sir Keir Starmer, who became prime minister in July.
“About three hundred years ago, we were transporting people from our country. Criminals who had at least been tried and found guilty of something, even if the trial was superficial,” he added.
“I don’t think transportation is a policy that is fit for the 21st century, because transportation is what it is.”
Between 1788 and 1868, approximately 162,000 prisoners were transported from Britain and Ireland to the penal colonies in Australia.
Responding to objections that some saw the plan as an effective deterrent and that others might view small boats crossing the channel as “un-Tory”, Sir John said: “Are they seriously telling me that somewhere in some North African country they know what the British parliament is legislating for? I don’t think so. I certainly don’t think so.”
On immigration in general, Sir John said he was “very displeased” that society viewed immigration as a pathology in this way. “I don’t agree with that, I never agreed with that.”
He also explained that he had not done many television interviews recently because “there was not much I could or would like to say in favour of what the previous government did.”
“I thought it would be better to stay off the air,” he says, “of course now that the election is over, the party is looking to the future again and I hope I can speak in favor.”
Sir John has not yet decided who he will back as the next leader of the Conservative Party, telling the BBC: “I would like to support someone who will look at the long-term issues, make recommendations about where we need to go and bring back some genuinely centre-right people to the party.”
Speaking about the current state and future of his party, he said: “The only party that can legitimately appeal to the centre-right is the Conservative Party. And that’s what we have to do, we have to decide where our natural support actually lies and appeal to them.”
“People may have misjudged the last election. We lost five votes to Reform UK and people are jumping up and down and some, quite reckless people, are saying we should merge with them.”
He warned that a tie-up with Reform would be “deadly”, adding: “We’ve lost 50 to the Liberals and we’ve lost a huge amount to Labor. We’ve lost more votes on the left than on the right. And we’ve got to focus on that centre-right position and we’re not an ideological party, I think we’re a traditionally common-sense party. And I’m optimistic. I think we’ve been defeated so badly that we’ve got a whole new foundation that we can build on, I think potentially effectively.”
The full interview, Amol Rajan Interviews: John Major, airs tonight (Wednesday) at 7pm on BBC Two and is available to watch on BBC iPlayer and BBC Sounds.