It has taken a long time to secure an afternoon with Priti Patel. As she glided into the room, the temperature noticeably fell. The short, dumpy Home Secretary, complete with her trademark smirk, drifted eerily to a small leather armchair, and settled down.
“You may sit”, Priti hissed at me. “Ten, minutes and ten minutes only”, she rasped.
With that in mind, I began my interview with earnest. There was no time for pleasantries, but there was no doubt in my mind that they would have not been reciprocated anyway.
Dehumanising
My initial question was a simple one – “Why Deportation?”.
The reaction was palpable. Mrs Patel responded with almost glee in her voice.
“It’s a bit like controlling vermin”, she mused. “You don’t mind rats or mice in the wild, but you don’t want them in your house, do you?”, she added.
“We start off by using the term ‘processing’, and chucking the little swines into a detention centre. This serves to dehumanise them. Who gives a shit what they have been through, they are coming over here, all smelly and looking wretched and stuff. No one wants to see that”, she grimaced.
“So, we thought, let’s ship these ‘people’ off to a dusty African country with a dubious Human Rights record. We can then conveniently ignore what happens to them. Out of sight, out of mind, that’s what I say”, she chuckled.
Successful Claim
I then proceeded to ask her, what happens if their asylum claim were to be successful.
Laughing out loud, she replied, “Oh, they won’t be coming back – it’s a one way ticket!”
Ukrainian Refugees
My next question focused on Ukrainian refugees, and why their plight was so different to someone escaping persecution in Syria.
“That’s easy, the Ukrainian people, all look quite nice in their photos. They have Facebook profiles and stuff, where they look clean and are seen going to parties and things. Oh, and Ukraine has loads of Gas and Oil reserves, so that decides it really”, she replied, bearing her sharp teeth. “It’s only lip service anyway. We make it f**cking hard for them to get in, make no mistake!”.
Then, she went on to angrily reply, “These Syrian people all arrive dirty and bleeding with scars from torture. Urgh! I don’t want one of them in my town!”
Racism
I turned to her and questions whether or not this might be seen as a bit racist?
“Are you a f**cking moron”, she barked, “Why do you think I was chosen to implement this policy. Have to seen me? It therefore can’t be racist, can it? Ukrainian, Syrian, Iranian, French, or whoever—This is GREAT BRITAIN, and we are their BETTERS. We decide whether a foreign life is worth it or not”.
I had further questions to ask, about prosecuting people traffickers, but she threatened me and my family, so I quickly left. An afternoon with Priti Patel that I wouldn’t forget.
