Rattled Johnson blames everyone but himself for ‘Boriswave’ of migrants
An angry Boris Johnson has defended himself against claims that he is responsible for a massive surge in immigration.
The former prime minister denied he was responsible for what Nigel Farage called the “Boris wave” on immigration when he was in Downing Street.
Instead, Mr Johnson criticized the immigration records of Conservative former Prime Ministers Rishi Sunak and David Cameron.
In a sign of his frosty relations with the reform leader, Mr Johnson refused to mention him by name.
Mr Johnson said his plan to stop boats sending illegal immigrants to Rwanda would work, but Mr Sunak failed to succeed in his plan.
And he said Lord Cameron was wrong to announce a specific target for reducing immigration.
Mr Johnson, who is being forced to resign as prime minister in 2022, was furious when he was challenged over Mr Farage’s claim that he was responsible for the immigration “Boris wave”.
Mr Johnson said: “My job was to take back control and that’s what I did.”
Criticizing Mr Sunak’s decision to call a snap election in 2024, he continued: “The only way to bring people back was through Rwanda. I don’t know why we didn’t do Rwanda. Why did we go to the country before doing that? It was a mistake.”
Urging Sir Keir Starmer to revive the Rwanda plan, he said: “It was and still is a very good policy. It would solve the small boats issue.”
Mr Johnson defended his record on immigration and distanced himself from the so-called “Boris wave” of immigrants.
The former prime minister accused Rishi Sunak of failing to send illegal immigrants to Rwanda and suggested Sir Keir should revive the scheme.
He said Mr Sunak had failed to highlight his success in delivering Brexit because his administration was “too busy campaigning on compulsory maths A-levels and a ban on cigars”.
In an interview with Telegram, Mr Johnson became agitated when pressed on Mr Farage’s remarks last month about what he called a “Boris wave” of immigration to the UK during Mr Johnson’s term in office.
Mr Johnson said his government “didn’t know how many people were coming” because of “the system we inherited”.
He continued: “We didn’t know how many EU students were returning. We didn’t know how many would take the Ukraine program or the Hong Kong program. And those numbers were very high, but now we have a system that allows us to get zero, which was not legally possible before.
“Whatever you say about the government I lead, I make two points: we have restored full democratic legal control over our laws and borders. And if people choose, we can have zero immigration into the UK.”
“We took back legal control. Yes, it’s true that if you look at the year immediately after Covid-19, several things came together at the same time. Ukrainians, Hong Kong, Chinese and loads of EU students coming back to finish their courses. “What people don’t look at is the year before when we had the lowest level ever.
“Every branch of government was saying they couldn’t be sure the crops would be picked from the fields, or the pigs would be slaughtered in time for pigs in blankets at Christmas. Or at the fuel stations. Do you remember that?”
Refusing to address Mr Farage by name, he mocked the Reform leader’s stance on Russian President Vladimir Putin and the cause of the Ukraine war.
Mr Johnson said the reform leader thought Putin was “a man who can stand his ground”, adding: “Anyone who thinks the war started because of NATO encroachment is out of their mind.”
Mr Johnson claimed Lord Cameron was wrong to promise to reduce legal immigration to “tens of thousands”.
“Did you ever hear me say that during the Brexit campaign? The answer is: no, you didn’t,” he said. “My job was to take back control, and that’s what I did.”
In the final year of Mr Johnson’s premiership, net migration quadrupled from an average of 200,000 a year to 789,000; The total population of “Boriswave” was approximately 2.6 million people.
Sir Keir also attacked Mr Johnson over “Boriswave”, linking small boats crossing the Channel to Brexit, calling them “Farage boats”.
