By Ben Kerrigan
Jeremy Corbyn has attacked Boris Johnson’s past admission of cocaine use in the House of Commons over deportations to Jamaica, as he suggested that the government is applying different rules to black and white people.
The Labour leader accused the “cruel and callous” prime minister of trying to “mislead” the public by suggesting that foreign nationals who have lived in the UK since childhood were being removed for committing serious crimes like rape and manslaughter, when some had been convicted of much less serious offences.
The leader of opposition was speaking at Prime Minister’s Questions in the Commons when he said an intervention from the courts blocking several people from being deported proved “the government has learnt absolutely nothing from the Windrush scandal”.
Corbyn made reference to Mr Johnson’s past, after the then Uxbridge MP admitted in 2007 that he had tried cocaine at university, and allegations he discussed beating up a journalist.
“He has no right to conflate them with those foreign national offenders we are deporting. Mr Johnson has previously admitted to trying cocaine, saying when asked to confirm the allegation: “Yes. I tried it at university and I remember it vividly.
The Labour leader accused the PM of misleading the country about the nature of offences committed, saying some deportees were victims of drug gangs.
Mr Corbyn said it showed the government had “learnt absolutely nothing” from the 2018 Windrush controversy.
The British government recently released a list of those deported to Jamaica. They included one persistent offender who had 24 convictions for 33 offences, another jailed for nine years for conspiracy to rob and possession of a firearm and another given a seven-year sentence for intent to supply class A drugs.
During heated exchanges at Prime Minister’s Questions, Mr Corbyn referred to the Windrush controversy, in which a number of British citizens were wrongfully detained and, in some cases, deported.
He asked the PM whether it was right that one of those deported this week was a black man who had come to the UK when he was five, who committed a single drugs-related offence after being groomed by “county lines” gangs but had not subsequently re-offended.
“This cruel and callous government is trying to mislead the British people into thinking that it is solely deporting foreign nationals who are guilty of murder, rape and other serious offences,” he said.
“This is clearly not the case.”
The Labour leader asked: “If there was a young white boy with blonde hair, who later dabbled in class A drugs, and conspired with a friend to beat up a journalist, would he deport that boy?
“Or is it one rule for young black boys from the Caribbean, and another for white boys from the US?”
A Home Office spokesperson said: “The planned charter flight to Jamaica is specifically for deporting foreign national offenders.
“Those detained for removal include people convicted of manslaughter, rape, violent crime and dealing Class-A drugs.
“We are urgently asking the judge to reconsider their ruling and it would be inappropriate to comment further whilst legal proceedings are ongoing”.
A Home Office spokesperson said: “The planned charter flight to Jamaica is specifically for deporting foreign national offenders.
“Those detained for removal include people convicted of manslaughter, rape, violent crime and dealing Class-A drugs.
“We are urgently asking the judge to reconsider their ruling and it would be inappropriate to comment further whilst legal proceedings are ongoing.