Cruella in Washington D.C.

Suella Braverman, make no, mistake, knows the game is up for the Tories. If polls are proven to be true, Sunak and his Mob will be toast, at the next general election. So, with that in mind, Suella was setting out her stall as a potential successor to Wishy-Washy. However, she did it, behind the guise of redefining what a 'refugee' is.

The current UN policy on what a refugee is was set up after WWII. 146 countries signed up and still, by and large, enact it. However, in her speech to a right-wing think tank in the American capital, Braverman spoke about redefining, what a refugee is. She said just because you were a woman or gay should not automatically give such people entry into a safe country.

Braverman said the categories that define what a refugee is, should be looked at, again. For example, persecution, discrimination, trafficking, and smuggling. In a way, she is correct, how do you define who is genuine and who is not? Amongst those crossing the channel, of course, many will be fleeing the above. However, many will be economic opportunists, terrorists and criminals. Aided and abetted by criminal gangs who give those who wish to do us harm and the genuine refugee passage. These people then set to sea in overloaded rubber dinghies. Meanwhile, we keep bunging the French money to stop the migrants on their side. But how genuine or effective the French are about this is open to question.

Braverman's policy of flying illegal migrants to Rwanda is not happening. Putting migrants on boats (anchored offshore) like the one with potential Legionnaires disease has gone quiet. The UK may talk tough but you are never going to see a fleet of Royal Navy warships towing migrants back to France, as the Australians, did. Of course, a solution must be found, both for migrants and for our country. But so far, everything this government has tried has failed, for one reason or another.

Suella said that asylum seekers are shopping around for countries to travel to. Ms. Braverman, labelled, migrants crossing the channel, in this category. She gave the example, of France, a perfectly safe, western nation. Yet, they choose to risk everything to make the dangerous crossing across the channel. Suella outlined that worldwide, there could be, as many as 780 million asylum seekers/migrants/refugees, call them what you will.

Labour's Shadow Home Secretary, Yvette Cooper, said Braverman's speech wasn't about tackling migrants at all. It's all about soundbites to get the Tory right in the parliament onside. Also, Tory voters, some who take a hardline as to who is allowed, into the UK. Beyond that, she was setting out her stall, as the potential successor, to Wishy-Washy.

One could say, as a Buddhist, where is Braverman's compassion, for the genuine fleeing dangerous situations? It seems, Braverman, isn't a bit worried about Karma. Or as they say in Christianity, "As you sow, so shall you reap". Braverman's husband, a Jew, you would have thought would be more compassionate to genuine people fleeing persecution. But given, the far-right government in Israel, that doesn't always follow.

Will illegal migrants become an issue in the upcoming general election? You bet the Tories will try and paint the Labour Party, as a government, that will be soft on migrants. Labour, for their part, will say everything the Tories did to manage migration, has failed miserably.

The way forward for any potential government after the general election (probably Labour) must be a mix of compassion and toughness.

Compassion for the genuine (if you can establish that) and toughness, on those who see the UK as a soft touch or a target for criminality or terrorism.