Boris Johnson and Theresa May in ‘bad-tempered’ clash over immigration amnesty

Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson has challenged the Prime Minister to extend the amnesty for Windrush migrants to include all illegal immigrants who have lived in the UK for more than a decade and have not committed crimes.

Johnson reportedly became “very agitated and annoyed” with May yesterday during what The Times describes as “a bad-tempered Cabinet clash over immigration policy”. The showdown came “amid a growing debate in government over the treatment of migrants in the wake of the Windrush immigration scandal”, says The Daily Telegraph.

The newspaper says Johnson is “among several Cabinet ministers urging a more liberal approach” following the announcement on Monday that Caribbean immigrants and their families who settled in the UK between 1948 and 1971 will be granted full citizenship and compensation.

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According to The Spectator, Johnson argued that a wider amnesty was necessary to “prevent others from getting caught up in the same situation, having to produce overly onerous amounts of evidence to show that they have been living here for years”.

The magazine says May then “rather acidly” noted that Johnson had previously called for an amnesty for all immigrants, first in 2008 and again in 2016, when he privately proposed one for people who had been here for more than a decade.

A witness to the clash told The Times: “It was fascinating in that it was obvious that she wished for it to be closed down and he was keen to stamp his view in Cabinet. It was bad.”

Johnson’s intervention “is a direct challenge to the Prime Minister, who oversaw migration policy for six years at the Home Office, and who has always resisted proposals for an amnesty”, the newspaper adds.

According to the Telegraph, Johnson’s approach could lead to between 500,000 and 700,000 migrants being given the right to stay permanently in the UK.

As mayor of London, Johnson argued that an amnesty was the “humane” thing to do and would increase tax revenue, since more people would become documented.

But then-home secretary May said an amnesty would send the “wrong message”, adding that people feel illegal immigration is “very clearly wrong”.