Who does Chris Loder think he’s kidding?

In last week’s column he blows hard on opposing the asylum seeker barge in Portland Harbour. On behalf of his constituents, he tells us, he went to the Home Office and met “the civil servants responsible for the plan” who said: ‘Yes the barge and 500 single men are coming to Dorset.’

Don’t blame the civil servants who are only carrying out orders from the Home Secretary. Twelve years of ineffectual policies are responsible for the backlog of asylum seekers sitting around in hotels around the country at huge public expense. He advises us to put pressure on the Portland Harbour Chief Executive by writing (angry?) letters.

He even implies that it is somehow wrong that the Authority will be receiving “a considerable income” from the barge’s mooring fees. What’s more, he takes a swipe at “the hard left” who are accused of conflating the terms ‘refugee’ and ‘migrant’ to suit their narrative.

Just who is it that is distorting the narrative? He blames everyone but himself and his party. The actual blame lies with a government that has run down the very civil service in the Home Office to a point where it is overwhelmed. He continues to support the government’s ironically named “illegal immigration Bill” (his lack of capital letters), which fails to go after the people smugglers.

From Theresa May’s ‘Hostile Environment’, to Pritti Patel’s turn-‘em-back-at-sea rhetoric, they have talked tough and done little to deal with the issue. There was a time not that long ago when Compassionate Conservatives would be ashamed to be represented by a Nasty Party (Theresa May’s term) blow-hard who spouts such angry, ineffectual, culture-wars codswallop.

Bob Hamblett

West Allington