Boris Johnson waded into the Rwanda migrant flights row today as Rishi Sunak faced a huge revolt from Tories trying to toughen up the plans.
The ex-PM insisted the government must accept amendments to the legislation tabled by the Tory right, which are due to be the subject of crunch votes this evening.
The intervention is a major blow to Mr Sunak as he scrambles to defuse a fresh wave of infighting in Conservative ranks over the controversial bill.
Two of the party’s deputy chairs – Lee Anderson and Brendan Clarke-Smith – have vowed to join the rebels. A slew of changes have been tabled that would sweep away more obstacles to getting deportation flights up and running.
MPs want the legislation to block the European Court of Human Rights from issuing last-minute injunctions.
Although the government is not in danger of losing the votes outright, as Labour does not support the rebel moves, a big rebellion would be highly damaging to Mr Sunak’s authority. He has made ‘stopping the boats’ a key plank of his pitch for a general election due to happen by the end of the year.
Rishi Sunak faces a bloody nose on the Rwanda Bill today after two Tory deputy chairs pledged to join more than 60 rebels trying to toughen up the plans
Boris Johnson has also waded into the row urging the government to accept the rebel amendments
Mr Sunak has made ‘stopping the boats’ a key plank of his pitch for a general election due to happen by the end of the year. Pictured, arrivals at Dover over the weekend
Mr Anderson’s decision to side with the rebels leaves the PM facing a dilemma over whether to sack him from his role as deputy Tory chairman
Brendan Clarke-Smith has also pledged to back rebel amendments tonight
Posting on the X social media site, Mr Johnson said: ‘Governments around the world are now trying to imitate the UK Rwanda policy for tackling illegal people trafficking,’ he said.
‘This Bill must be as legally robust as possible – and the right course is to adopt the amendments.’
The existential threat to the Bill is likely to come tomorrow when it is due to have its third reading, the last Commons stage.
If Labour opts to vote against at that point rather than abstain then rebels would be able to crash the flagship legislation, plunging Mr Sunak into chaos.
Several have suggested they are ready to risk collapsing the government to avoid betraying voters.
The PM gathered his Cabinet this morning ahead of the showdown, with debate on the committee stage of the legislation set to start at lunchtime. The Speaker will decide what amendments will be subject to votes, expected to happen this evening.
In a round of interviews this morning, Work and Pensions Secretary Mel Stride seemed resigned to the prospect of a backlash against the government from its own MPs.
He told LBC: ‘Let’s see. Bills go through various processes. There are often amendments.
‘We all know that there are very few Bills – very, very few Bills – that go through straight and clean and nobody tries to amend them in any way at all.
‘What matters is that the Bill progresses in a form that leaves it effective at the end and I’m confident we’re going to do that.’
More than 60 Tory MPs, including Liz Truss, Suella Braverman and former immigration minister Robert Jenrick, have signed amendments to beef up the Safety of Rwanda Bill.
Miriam Cates, Conservative MP for Penistone and Stocksbridge, said she would be prepared to vote against the Rwanda Bill if it is not amended.
She told the Today programme: ‘I would be prepared but what I really want to see is the Government accept these amendments.’
Former Cabinet minister Simon Clarke said: ‘If things go wrong, there are a number of us who have shown before, just as we did on Theresa May’s soft Brexit legislation, that we won’t hesitate to act on principle to actually get things done. We were right then and we were right now.’
However, Tory moderates on the other wing of the party have said they could oppose the legislation if it is strengthened further.
Former justice secretary Sir Robert Buckland said: ‘There are a large number of Conservatives on the One Nation side who think the Bill has gone as far as they are comfortable with – or even a bit further, in my case – and our view needs to be heard.’
Mr Sunak insisted yesterday changes were unnecessary as the legislation already gave ministers the power to overrule so-called Rule 39 injunctions from Strasbourg. In a significant intervention, he also confirmed for the first time that he was ready to use the power, if necessary.
‘I would not have put that clause in the Bill if I was not prepared to use it,’ he said. ‘I won’t let a foreign court stop us from getting flights off.’
Last night, in a sign of the pressure No 10 is under, Tory campaign chief Isaac Levido rounded on the organisers of a poll suggesting the party will suffer a 120-seat election defeat unless it toughens its stance on issues such as immigration.
In a briefing to Tory MPs, Mr Levido warned the party would ‘fall if it is divided’ following projections of a 1997-style victory for Labour later this year.
In a further olive branch to the rebels, No 10 said Eurosceptic immigration minister Michael Tomlinson would be put in charge of responding to any interventions from the Strasbourg court.
Sir John Hayes, chairman of the Common Sense Group of Tory MPs, welcomed Mr Sunak’s clarification that he was willing to overrule the Strasbourg court, but said it ‘has to be in legislation’.
Mr Anderson has put his position in peril by committing to join the Tory rebellion
The Rwanda scheme was blocked by the Supreme Court in November after judges accepted claims from campaigners that the country was not safe, as asylum seekers could theoretically be returned from there to their home country to face torture.
The Rwanda Bill will declare in law that the African nation is a safe country and prevent the courts examining the principle of the scheme.
But to the dismay of Tory rebels, it will not prevent individual appeals by those threatened with deportation.
Mr Anderson’s decision to side with the rebels leaves the PM facing a dilemma over whether to sack him from his role as deputy Tory chairman.
Mr Anderson said he had signed several rebel amendments tabled by Mr Jenrick and veteran Eurosceptic Sir Bill Cash, adding: ‘I will vote for them.’
Levelling Up Secretary Michael Gove said this morning that he is ‘pretty sure’ Mr Anderson will still be in post at the next election.
‘I think we might be getting ahead of ourselves because I think that, and Lee is a friend and I’m a big admirer of his, the concerns that Lee has about the Bill are the concerns that the country has about migration more broadly,’ he told Times Radio.
Key rebel proposals include banning migrants from making individual legal claims against deportation to Rwanda, blocking injunctions from the European Court of Human Rights and disapplying all human rights laws.
Mr Sunak said he was ‘happy to have a dialogue with anyone who thinks they might have an idea that will improve the effectiveness of the Bill’.