Tory Robert Jenrick accused of 'politically motivated' attack on vicars

02 February 2024 , 12:20

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Robert Jenrick was accused of a politically motivated attack on religious leaders (Image: Tayfun Salci/ZUMA Press Wire/REX/Shutterstock)

Ex-Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick yesterday(FRI) came under fire for lashing out at vicars and priests in response to the attack.

The Tory heavyweight, who has been tipped as a future leadership contender, suggested Clapham acid attack suspect Abdul Shakoor Ezedi had falsely claimed to be a persecuted Christian. His old boss, Suella Braverman later doubled down on the claim.

Despite admitting he didn't know the full details of how Mr Ezedi was allowed to remain in the UK, he said: "I'm afraid we do see regularly cases of people making spurious claims to have converted to Christianity aided and abetted by often well meaning but naive vicars and priests.

"And this is just an example of how broken the system is." He went on to swipe at judges, saying they "weigh on the side of the asylum seeker".

Steve Smith, chief executive of charity Care4Calais, suggested Mr Jenrick may have been retaliating after the Archbishop of Canterbury savaged the Rwanda deportation project. Mr Smith told The Mirror: “This is a politically motivated attack on religious leaders because some of them have spoken out against the Government’s inhumane and brutal Rwanda plan.

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"It is purely aimed at undermining their opposition to the Government’s hostile environment towards refugees. The truth is, unlike those religious leaders, politicians like Robert Jenrick are devoid of any ethical and moral leadership, choosing to scapegoat marginalised communities rather than support them.”

Mr Jenrick also said he expected the Home Secretary James Cleverly to "conduct a detailed review" into the Clapham attack. Ms Braverman later stated: "The immigration history to this case demonstrates why we need a fundamental overhaul of human rights laws.

"We need to leave the European Court of Human Rights. "Spurious claims based on religion are commonplace in our asylum system. The bar is low, it’s easy to game the system."

Labour MP for Streatham Bell Ribeiro-Addy also told the BBC the "most important factor is violence against women and girls". She added: "The reasons as to why he was given asylum we don't know, but we do know there may have been some serious issues in terms of how the criminal justice system processed the particular issue of his particular sex offence.

"I'm saying the prime issue is violence against women and girls because that is something that is carried out by all people, whether they subscribe to a particular faith, whether they are a particular ethnicity, or whether they were born in this country or not. It's something that is right across our country."

Dave Burke