It's Show Time for the Politically Incompetent

According to Iain Martin in today’s Daily Telegraph “The Louise Mensch Show was always going to end in tears”.  While strictly speaking Mr Martin is correct I rather think this is a case of not seeing the wood for the trees.  Louise Mensch is just one instance among many of parliamentary candidates chosen or perhaps I should say appointed for the wrong reason.  Being young, female, attractive, a self-publicist, media savvy, ambitious are not in themselves bad things to be; but they don’t necessarily qualify you as a good MP.  If you want a profile of a good MP try some of the following attributes; public-spirited, a desire to put something back, someone who has experienced of life’s ups and downs, someone who has achieved something worthwhile, someone with a real connection to their constituency, someone who is chosen by their local party association.

Louise Mensch is just the latest in a string of sideshows that include the hapless Chloe Smith and the corrupt Baroness Warsi.  Interesting though these side shows are the real story is of parliamentary candidates appointed by central office for the wrong reasons.  That is not a sideshow but a Westminster blockbuster of a show that is going to end in tears and the curtain has only just gone up for the second act.

What is a Minister of Immigration for?

Yesterday immigration minister Damian Green announced that "It's time to stop just looking at numbers and for Britain to start being selective about who is allowed to enter the UK as an immigrant.".  Here are some of his proposals:

• 'We need to know not just that the right numbers of people are coming here, but that the right people are coming here. People who will benefit Britain, not just those who will benefit by Britain.’
• ‘Importing economic dependency on the State is unacceptable. Bringing people to this country who can play no role in the life of this country is equally unacceptable. ‘
• ‘Everyone who comes here must be selected to make a positive contribution. We have talked in the past about a Points Based System. In the future it will be more accurate to talk about a contribution-based system.'
• ‘Whether you come here to work, study, or get married, we as a country are entitled to check that you will add to the quality of life in Britain. ‘

I am sure Mr Green is acting with the best of intent, after all he can hardly hold a ministerial post, draw a ministerial salary and sit doing nothing.

These would have been cracking good suggestions twenty five to thirty years ago but for almost three decades we have had both an open door policy towards immigration and allowed the European Union to control immigration from within the EU.  As a result it is hard not ot conclude that these proposals are far too little, far too late.  This particular horse bolted many years ago.

To have any chance of being effective in today’s circumstances Mr Green would need to be proposing policies to take back powers to control our own borders from the European Union and for the forced repatriation of immigrants who abuse our hospitality.  Neither of these is ever going to happen or indeed even be proposed. It is therefore hard to escape the conclusion that the role of our immigration minister is simply to provide the public with an illusion of activity and progress, nothing more.