Don't expect the government's compassion for drowned migrants to last

It will be business as usual by the weekend

Whenever a poor migrant drowns in the Channel the noise emanating from the leaders of British society shifts seamlessly from a snarl to a sob. Don’t get used to the sound of sympathy. Historically, the coos of compassion barely last a week.

In the Commons in October, the Home Secretary Suella Braverman showed she was comfortable with the language of the far right. She said that migrants were involved in an “invasion” of the south coast, as if they were the forces of a hostile foreign power mounting an amphibious assault. 

Criminal gangs did not just transport them, she continued.  “Some of them [are] actual members of criminal gangs. So let’s stop pretending that they are all refugees in distress. The whole country knows that is not true.”

I have no doubt that Braverman was sincere when she announced after Wednesday’s drownings that “these are the days that we dread.”

Equally, when Rishi Sunak expressed his sorrow at the "tragic loss of human life,” I have no doubt that his desire to deter asylum seekers did not extend to wishing them dead.