"You know my trouble? I'm just too generous to the government."
"Forgive me being a little slow but I've only just properly clocked yesterday's revelation that 11,000 illegal immigrants had been permitted to become security guards. Why am I telling you about it now then? Because it's dawned on me just how different these numbers are to what the Home Office claimed they'd be."
Keep reading...
"Weeks ago, when this problem was first announced, I listened hard to the Home Office briefings, I tried hard to treat the news calmly and I calculated hard what the figures might be. On the basis of this guidance - I wrote that "based on the outcome of checks made so far the worst case scenario could be over 8,000... Ministers insist that it is impossible to be more precise than they have been so far since they will only have accurate figures once checks are complete in December and say that 5,000 is still the best estimate at the moment".
Perhaps next time I should not listen to the official guidance and think of a number and then double it!"
The author who is now less willing to listen to the official guidance is...
Nick Robinson, the BBC's Political Editor and probably one of the most important people for a politician to keep sweet. Any politician with any sense, that is.
Mr Brown doesn't appear to have that basic sense, however. It's not the first time that he's poked Mr Robinson in the eye. Remember this?
The wages of spin is political death. Eventually.
Posted by: Alan S | December 14, 2007 at 21:16
"You know my trouble? I'm just too generous to the government."
That sums up Robinson and his cronies at the Brownite Bull***t Corporation perfectly.
Posted by: TFA Tory | December 14, 2007 at 21:52
Are they all working for immigration?
I bet they are, thats how they are letting every one in,Well!! who would have thought it
Posted by: I Albion | December 14, 2007 at 22:05
How can this be illegal, remember, the prime minister told us that crime was down.
Posted by: John | December 15, 2007 at 00:19
Nice to see Nick having his Damascene moment.
Like the king with no clothes, NuLab are gradually unravelling, to be seen truly as a bunch of charlatans who have conned the whole country for 10 years.
As for this story, it represents the tip of the iceberg. If a government minister can call the Home Office unfit for purpose, then our thoughts should turn to just what other nasties are waiting to be exposed.....that we gave Osama asylum and unlimited residence in the UK and have been funding his political aspirations!!!.
Posted by: George Hinton | December 15, 2007 at 12:56