The Windrush Betrayal : Exposing the Hostile Environment by Amelia Gentleman (Guardian Faber, 2019)

Betrayal is a strong word. It means calling out disloyalty, deception and, above all, a violation of trust. It is absolutely the right word to describe the trauma and destruction of the lives for those now referred to as the Windrush generation,

Jamaica gained independence on 19th July 1962. Before that it was part of the British Empire. This meant that passengers who disembarked from the SS Empire Windrush ship at Tilbury Docks in England on 22nd June 1948 were officially British citizens.

With hindsight, the problems these passengers subsequently faced could have been forseen. Eleven Labour MPs wrote to Clement Atlee, the Prime Minister of the time, proclaiming “An influx of coloured people domiciled here is likely to impair the harmony, strength and cohesion of our people and social life and cause discord and unhappiness among all concerned.” Faced with such blatant racism, perhaps the only surprise was how long it was before the proverbial shit hit the fan.

Guardian journalist, Amelia Gentlemen, deserves the highest praise for heading up a dogged campaign to expose blatent injustices. She highlights and personalises the shocking stories of people who were told they must prove their legal status or be forcably removed.

Most who travelled from Jamaica on the Windrush ship or by other means did so at a very early age on the passports of parents or with guardians. Often they didn’t have official papers and, quite reasonably, didn’t think they needed any. Despite the fact that most went on to live and work in Britain practically all their lives, they were branded as ‘illegal’. Many lost their jobs, homes and access to NHS medical treatment. Many were deported to countries they no longer knew.

This Kafkaesque nightmare came as the direct result of the so-called ‘hostile environment’ policies initiated by Theresa May’s Conservative party through the 2014 Immigration Act. As the name of this policy suggests, the aim was to make life as uncomfortable as possible for all immigrants. The ultimate goal was to force the ‘voluntary’ removal of those who couldn’t produce the right documents. As Gentleman reports, the problem was exaccerbated by poorly trained and uncaring home office staff.

Theresa May as PM and her immediate predecessor David Cameron are identified as the chief villians of the piece alongside the inept home secretary Amber Rudd. But the real bombshell of this book comes on page 215 (of 318) when the author reveals: “I’m married to a Conservative MP (Jo Johnson) who at the time was a minister of Theresa May’s government” and concedes that leads to “huge area of disagreement”. She adds “I can see why it looks weird from the outside.” Weird isn’t the half of it! FFS, she is literally in bed with the enemy and Boris Johnson’s sister-in-law to boot! Occasionally, Gentleman speculates on the behaviour of senior politicians when surely she must have had access to some juicy inside information. When these questions arose, why didn’t she just ask her husband?

In fairness, there’s no sign of any major conflict of interest. She certainly makes it abundantly clear that the Tories were chiefly to blame for the fiasco. I guess one advantage of her marital status is that she cannot be branded as a loony leftie with an axe to grind.

At times her attention to detail and cautious reluctance to make gung-ho statements works well. For example she writes diplomatically at one point: “It’s hard to avoid concluding that there must have been an element of racism in those decisions.” She doesn’t try to second guess too much. As Jack Reacher would say, “in an investigation, assumptions kill.”

The conclusions are beyond reasonable doubt however and, in the postcript, Gentleman is unambiguous in asserting “The Windrush scandal was not a mistake.” She also demonstates a healthy un-Tory attitude when she states that the errors learned should apply to all immigrants, not just good-natured Jamaican folks of pensionable age.

Without advocating an open door policy, Amelia Gentleman expresses sadness about the routine racism that still persists in Britain and the way that the postive impact of immigration is never on the agenda. Unfortunately, Rishi Sunak’s misguided and beleaguered ‘small ‘stop the boats’ campaign illustrates that an absence of humanity and common sense remains very much the norm.