Immigration is a battle the Conservatives are losing – to themselves

The Nationality and Borders Bill returns to the Commons on Tuesday, restarting the Tory civil war, writes John Rentoul

Demonstrators on King Edward’s Bay Beach in Tynemouth show solidarity for refugees with a protest against the Nationality and Borders Bill (PA)

An unexpected new front has opened up in the battle the prime minister is fighting on the issue of immigration. The war in Ukraine has created a wave of sympathy for refugees. Before Vladimir Putin’s tanks rolled in, Boris Johnson was trying and failing to stop asylum seekers crossing the Channel in small boats. Since then, he has been trying to claim credit for asylum seekers arriving from Ukraine.

This has meant adopting some awkward straddles. First he tried to stop Priti Patel, the home secretary, being as generous as she wanted to be towards those fleeing the shelling. Then he put Michael Gove, the levelling up secretary, in charge of a plan to privatise the asylum system by asking citizens to volunteer to take Ukrainians in.

There is more awkwardness to come. On Tuesday the Nationality and Borders Bill returns to the Commons from the Lords, where it was amended by liberal peers. Now MPs will look at it again in a world that has changed.