That Sajid Javid should be making his first major speech as home secretary on the same morning the Grenfell inquiry makes it first turn down the avenue of culpability is testament to Javid’s political skills, if nothing else. Teflon coating has long been perhaps the solitary indispensable quality among politicians who make it to the top and then manage to stay there. Javid was communities and local government secretary, in charge of local councils when Grenfell burned and Kensington and Chelsea Council were publicly eviscerated, and perhaps wrongly, a question we will return to shortly. It is too early to tell whether Theresa May has disproved the old maxim about the Home Office being the graveyard of political careers. Certainly she made it out alive, but it is likely that not too far in to the future, there will be a reading of history that declares her a political zombie, her past actions, especially on immigration, rendering her too certain a hostage to the fortunes of Brexit. That Javid feels able essentially to seek to dismantle his now boss’s legacy, on both immigration policy and counter-terrorism measures, speaks not just of the discombobulating times in which we live, but also of his sizeable political nous. But here’s the thing. It is distinctly possible that nous may, in the end, be shown to have rendered him dead even on arrival at the political graveyard. Andrew O’Hagan, in his remarkable 65,000 word article on Grenfell for the London Review of Books, reaches many conclusions, one of which has the potential to prove fatal for Javid in the years ahead. He suggests that in the weeks following the tragedy, in which national opprobrium was heaped on the council, they were not aided by Westminster politicians, including Javid, whose principal concern was the protection of their reputation. He cites a telephone conversation between May and Javid and certain members of the council, in which pressure appeared to be heaped on them to meet promises to rehouse victims within the “two or three weeks” that had been publicly declared. That the council’s own housing experts said that time was not sufficient to expect victims who had lost everything to make major life decisions over their future housing appears to have fallen on deaf ears. Now, Javid makes all the right noises about immigration, in the wake of the Windrush scandal that has shocked the nation. He speaks of an end to the “hostile environment” to be replaced with a “compliant” one. He says he will look into relaxing the visa cap on NHS workers, an announcement that for many people will do no more than elicit shock that there ever was such a thing. Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK Show all 15 1 /15 Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK The ex-troopship 'Empire Windrush' arriving at Tilbury Docks from Jamaica, with 482 Jamaicans on board, emigrating to Britain. Getty Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK Jamaican immigrants being welcomed by RAF officials from the Colonial Office after the ex-troopship 'Empire Windrush' landed them at Tilbury. PA Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK Alford Gardner who arrived in Britain in 1948 on the first Windrush ship to dock in Tilbury, Essex, speaking at his home in Leeds PA Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK Alford Gardner in Leeds shortly after he arrived in Britain in 1948 on the first Windrush ship to dock in Tilbury, Essex PA Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK Gardner was 22 years old when he boarded the ship in Kingston, Jamaica, with his brother Gladstone before they and hundreds of Caribbean migrants called on to rebuild post-war Britain disembarked the ship in Tilbury Docks PA Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK Alford Gardner (right), during his RAF service in 1947 PA Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK The son of Ruth Williams, a Windrush-generation immigrant, wants to the leave the country after threats of deportation. According to his mother, Mr Haynes applied for British citizenship in 2016 but was rejected, despite Ms Williams having lived in the UK almost permanently since arriving from St Vincent and the Grenadines in 1959. Ruth Williams, 75, said she felt "betrayed" by Britain after the Home Office twice turned down applications for her 35-year-old son, Mozi Haynes, to remain in the country. Ms Williams is understood to have cancer and said she relies heavily on her son for support. PA Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK The British liner 'Empire Windrush' at port in 1954. Getty Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK Ruth Williams, 75, with her British passport. "I feel betrayed and a second class citizen in my own country," she said. "This makes me so sad and the Home Office must show some compassion. "I am unwell and almost 75, I live on my own and I need my son to stay here. I need my family around me and I can’t face being alone. He has applied to the Home Office and been refused twice." PA Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK From the top, hopeful Jamaican boxers Charles Smith, Ten Ansel, Essi Reid, John Hazel, Boy Solas and manager Mortimer Martin arrive at Tilbury on the Empire Windrush in the hope of finding work in Britain. Getty Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK Jamaicans reading a newspaper whilst on board the ex-troopship 'Empire Windrush' bound for Tilbury docks in Essex. Getty Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK After half a century in Britain, Anthony Bryan decided it was time to go abroad. But the decision set off a nightmare that saw him lose his job, detained twice and almost deported to Jamaica. AFP/Getty Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK Jamaica-born Anthony Bryan poses outside his home in Edmonton, north London. Now 60 and a grandfather, Bryan thought the issue could be resolved swiftly, as he legally moved to Britain with his family as part of the Windrush generation of Caribbean migrants after World War II.<doc-sep>Home Secretary Sajid Javid on course to clash with Theresa May over immigration review When you subscribe we will use the information you provide to send you these newsletters. Sometimes they'll include recommendations for other related newsletters or services we offer. Our Privacy Notice explains more about how we use your data, and your rights. You can unsubscribe at any time. Sign up to receive our rundown of the day'sdirect to your inbox He promised to review rules demanding the inclusion of foreign students in net migration figures and capping the number of visas given to foreign doctors. His remarks on the BBC's Andrew Marr Show follow expectations among MPs that the Cabinet rising star is determined to chart an independent course at the helm of the Home Office. In the interview Mr Javid admitted wanting to "look again" at the rules classifying foreign students as migrants, which Mrs May has consistently supported in Downing Street and previously during her six years in charge of the Home Office. The Home Secretary suggested there was a "perception problem" created by the rule.<doc-sep>The home secretary, Sajid Javid, has made an astonishing proposal among his raft of strategies to be unveiled today. It is that personal information possessed by MI5 on some 20,000 British “suspected” citizens be declassified and shared with local authorities, police “and others”. This is in order to “counter terrorism”. There is no way such material can possibly stay secret. Since no one knows if they are on this list, they have no way of countering or correcting false identification or information. No one giving information to the state, including possibly the identity of the giver, will be able to trust its secrecy. Indeed if the list is not declared or even vetted, the suspicion must be that any MI5 intelligence on individuals will no longer be secret. This is not just a police state but an insecure state. Parliament should demand instant clarification. Nothing is more dangerous to freedom than a new home secretary. He or she is bombarded with ideas from the backwoods of the security industry, ideas that failed to pass muster with his or her predecessors. The industry knows that the newcomer will be desperate to win headlines as “tough on crime”. It will push eagerly for new powers and new controls. Javid appears to have fallen at the first fence. Some of his proposals are sensible. It is right to combat all conspiracies at their roots, rather than just respond to their consequences. The government’s much-derided Prevent strategy, focusing on radicalisation in schools, prisons and religious institutions, was ham-fisted. But behind almost every terrorist incident is some deed of radicalisation. Prevention at source has to be the way forward, and that relies on intelligence within the community – and trust in that intelligence. But if such prevention is perhaps weakened by a respect for human and civil rights so be it. That is the price of freedom. Home secretaries are entrusted with guarding that freedom. There were five terrorist incidents in Britain last year. They were massively over-reported, so much so that it is hard to believe imitation did not play a part. A further nine plots were apparently foiled. The security services cannot stop everything, but they are clearly having considerable success and deserve thanks for doing so. But they cannot be the judge of their own powers. Javid is now in danger of capitulating to terrorism’s prime goal, which is to undermine the liberties and dignities of the state. Britain is utterly obsessed with terrorism – while far more frequent knife crimes are all but ignored. No city in Europe has been rendered as ugly as the West End of London, with its array of gates, barriers, bollards and police armed with automatic weapons. Museums, shops and sporting events must spend fortunes on security checks. At the entrance to parliament, police are instructed to feel inside men’s underpants. I know this from personal experience. We must be educated to accept a balance of risk. Terrorists aim to change our way of life. They want to show our much-vaunted freedoms and tolerances to be a sham. The one thing not to do is suggest they might be right. That is what Javid is doing today.<doc-sep>Theresa May is preparing to relax tough visa restrictions on foreign doctors Theresa May is preparing to relax tough visa restrictions on foreign doctors in the face of a Cabinet revolt led by Sajid Javid. The new Home Secretary yesterday went public with his concerns about restrictions on skilled workers that are blamed for fuelling a shortage of doctors in the NHS. In his first major TV interview since his appointment in April, Mr Javid also made it clear he was prepared to speak out on wider immigration policy, which has been the preserve of Mrs May since 2010. He revealed he has already torn up part of the Home Office’s ‘hostile environment’ policy blamed by critics for the Windrush scandal – and refused to endorse her long-standing policy of reducing net migration to the ‘tens of thousands’. In a direct challenge to Mrs May, he even suggested he would support the removal of foreign students from the immigration figures. On foreign doctors, Mr Javid said it was a fact that there were ‘a number of doctors that are qualified, that our NHS needs, that are being turned away’. The problem has been blamed on visa restrictions for skilled workers that were introduced by Mrs May in 2011. The Home Secretary said: ‘I see the problem with that and it is something that I’m taking a fresh look at. I know a number of my colleagues certainly want me to take a look at this and that is exactly what I’m doing.’ Last night, Whitehall sources suggested that Mrs May was now willing to allow a ‘very controlled’ change in the rules to prevent foreign doctors with job offers being turned away. A source said it was an area where the PM accepted ‘change might be needed’ – and suggested a relaxation of the rules could be approved in the coming weeks. The move could help quell a backbench – and Cabinet – revolt on the issue. Dozens of Tory MPs are said to have signed a letter to the Prime Minister calling for a rethink of the rules, while Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt, Chancellor Philip Hammond and Business Secretary Greg Clark are all said to have raised concerns about the issue. Campaigners say the annual quota of 20,700 Tier 2 visas available for skilled workers from outside the EU is preventing the NHS and some businesses recruiting the staff they need. The British Medical Journal, which is campaigning on the issue, says more than 1,500 foreign doctors were refused a visa between December and March despite having job offers from the NHS. Sarah Wollaston, Tory chairman of the Commons health committee, said applying the visa cap to doctors ‘makes no sense at all’. Mr Hunt announced plans to open five medical schools this year as part of a drive to make the UK ‘self-sufficient in doctors’ by 2025. But he is pushing for a temporary easing of restrictions in the short term. Mrs May, who was home secretary from 2010 to 2016, has continued to keep a tight grip of immigration policy since moving to Downing Street. Mr Javid yesterday made clear he was willing to challenge her on issues where he believes the policy is not working But Mr Javid yesterday made clear he was willing to challenge her on issues where he believes the policy is not working. During an appearance on the BBC1’s The Andrew Marr Show yesterday, he ducked three invitations to endorse the Government’s flagship target of reducing net migration to below 100,000 a year, although he acknowledged it was a Tory manifesto commitment and would stay. Mr Javid also indicated that he favoured removing students from the target. Mrs May has fiercely resisted the move for years, despite Cabinet pressure, believing the public would view it as fiddling the figures. But Mr Javid yesterday agreed there was a ‘perception problem’ with targeting the tens of thousands of foreign students coming to Britain, who he said were ‘great for our universities’. Asked if the policy came across as being ‘not very welcoming’, he replied: ‘I empathise with that point, and it is something I’ve long considered.’ The Home Secretary also revealed that he had already dismantled part of the so-called ‘hostile environment’ policy towards illegal immigrants, which was blamed for some of the problems suffered by members of the Windrush generation of immigrants and their children. He said he had suspended rules banning illegal immigrants from opening bank accounts because ‘I am not sure the data that we have is accurate enough’. Mr Javid repeated his opposition to the phrase ‘hostile environment’, which he described as a ‘negative term, a non-British term’. He said he would be looking ‘very carefully’ at other elements of the regime, but added: ‘I do want to absolutely maintain a distinction and say we will absolutely welcome those people that are here legally, there’s no question of that, but if you’re here illegally we will clamp down on you and we will not tolerate it.’<doc-sep>
Sajid Javid will take a "fresh look" at a cap on the number of foreign doctors as he departed from large parts of Theresa May's legacy in the Home Office. The home secretary, who was appointed to the post at the end of April, also pledged to review the "hostile environment" policy towards illegal immigration and push to remove foreign students from immigration statistics. In addition, Mr Javid notably refused to explicitly back the Conservatives' long-held pledge to reduce yearly net migration to the tens of thousands. The government has recently come under pressure from both Tory MPs and Labour to remove all health workers, amid NHS staff shortages, from the annual cap on the number of skilled workers allowed into the UK, which are limited through so-called Tier Two visas. :: Government facing High Court challenge over 'hostile environment' immigration policy Image: Theresa May championed a 'hostile environment' at the Home Office Mr Javid stressed it is "only in recent months" that the limit has been reached, but promised action, telling the BBC's Andrew Marr Show: "I see the problem with that and it is something that I'm taking a fresh look at. "I know a number of my colleagues certainly want me to take a look at this, that's exactly what I'm doing." Mr Javid also used the TV interview to repeat his opposition to the term "hostile environment", championed by the prime minister when she was home secretary, with regards to the government's approach towards illegal immigration. The home secretary promised to review aspects of the policy, while branding the term "hostile" as "quite un-British". He said: "I've used the word 'compliant' environment and what that means is it's absolutely right that we have an environment in terms of our immigration policy that distinguishes between people that are here legally, and those that are here illegally." But, Mr Javid admitted, there were "lessons to be learned" from the Windrush scandal about how the policy is implemented, as he revealed he has already suspended action that bans illegal immigrants from being able to open bank accounts in the UK. Image: Tory MPs want NHS staff excluded from immigration restrictions In a further departure from Mrs May's stance towards immigration, the home secretary said there is a "perception problem" with including overseas students in immigration statistics and that he understood the argument of those who want them removed from figures. Confessing he empathises with the view it is unwelcoming to those wanting to study in the UK, Mr Javid said: "It is something I've long considered and it is not my most urgent priority when it comes to immigration right now... but it is something that I would like to look at again." Despite referring to the Tories' pledge to reduce annual migration to below 100,000 as a "commitment" in the party's manifesto, Mr Javid refused to directly support the promise. Responding to the home secretary's comments on foreign health workers, Labour's shadow health secretary Jonathan Ashworth said: "We don't need a 'fresh look' we need it sorting. "We have a workforce crisis across the NHS with around 100,000 vacancies. "Let trusts get on and recruit internationally and stopping blocking medics from coming here to care for our sick." The Liberal Democrats' home affairs spokesman Sir Ed Davey said: "The home secretary will have the support of almost everyone in parliament to exclude students and medical staff from the immigration cap, but it's far from clear that the prime minister is willing to admit her long-cherished policy is wrong. "I hope parliament can get to vote on this as soon as possible."