‘Sacked for doing my job’: Immigration chief says he was fired on Teams call after ‘speaking truth to power’

David Neal was sacked by James Cleverly after he publicly criticised border security measures at City Airport

The former independent chief inspector of borders and immigration has said he was sacked by the home secretary over a Microsoft Teams call for “doing my job” and defended “speaking truth to power”.

David Neal was dramatically fired by James Cleverly last week after he went public with criticism of border security measures at London City Airport.

Speaking to MPs on Tuesday, Mr Neal said he was “sacked for doing my job” as chief inspector and said his role required him to “expose” risks to the country. He said that his team of 30 employees found out about his sacking in the media because he didn’t have time to tell them before it was briefed by the Home Office.

Mr Neal said that he would tell the future chief inspector that they should “have the moral courage to do what’s right” and “hold on to your principles”.

He said he could sleep at night because he had stuck to his principles, adding: “I have a clear conscience that I have done the right thing and will continue to do the right thing. I just hope there is a role, and there continues to be a role, for people who speak to power... How many people can really say that they’ve done that?”

David Neal, former Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration giving evidence to the Home Office Select Committee in the House of Commons (House of Commons/UK Parliament/PA Wire)

He told MPs: “I think I’ve been sacked for doing what the law asks of me and I’ve breached, I’ve fallen down over a clause in my employment contract, which I think is a crying shame.”

A Home Office spokesperson responded to Mr Neal’s testimony saying his appointment “was terminated after he leaked confidential and misleading information, and lost the confidence of the home secretary”.

Mr Neal has submitted fifteen inspection reports to the Home Office but they have not been published. He said he thought there was a “reluctance on behalf of the Home Office to get the reports out” as many of them are critical of their work.

He agreed with suggestions by MPs that the reports might be being suppressed to give ministers time to rectify the problems before they are publicly criticised. He told the Home Affairs Committee: “Just because the reports are inconvenient doesn’t mean that they should be suppressed.”

Mr Neal told MPs he was not able to publicly talk about the contents of the reports because he had recently received a “warning letter” from the Cabinet Office reminding him of certain aspects of his contract.

However Mr Neal highlighted his reports into children in Home Office hotels, into asylum case work, and a report into social care visas as particularly important.

David Neal has hit out at his treatment by the Home Office (PA Media)

The Home Office said last week that Mr Neal had “breached the terms of appointment and lost the confidence of the home secretary” after details of his inspection into City Airport appeared in the Daily Mail.

Mr Neal had told the newspaper that dangerous failings by border force were allowing “high risk” private jets to land in Britain without security checks.

He said that the lapse in security risked organised criminals being able to bring gang members and contraband into the country. He told MPs on Tuesday that he had sought an urgent meeting with ministers after uncovering the alleged failings at City Airport.

The morning he was meant to meet with immigration minister Tom Pursglove the meeting was cancelled and “the rest is history”, he said.

The Home Office challenged some of the data used in Mr Neal’s report into the airport, but Mr Neal said: “I wouldn’t have put my reputation and my job on the line if I was putting out information that wasn’t based on fact. The report will ultimately be published and it will come out I’m sure.”

A Home Office spokesperson said: “We take border security extremely seriously and we recognise that independent scrutiny such as that provided by the Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration (ICIBI) plays an important role in ensuring we have a well-functioning immigration system.

“The recruitment process for the next Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration is already in progress.”

Mr Neal also revealed, that like the anti-slavery watchdog, the budget of the independent chief inspector of borders was being cut by five per cent year on year.

James Cleverly sacked Mr Neal via Microsoft Teams (AFP via Getty Images)

He told MPs that he had seen evidence that suggested the Home Office had supported his reappointment as chief inspector but that Number 10 had made the decision to block it.

The sacked borders inspector also used his evidence session with MPs to raise concerns about the conditions at RAF Wethersfield where some asylum seekers are being accommodated.

Mr Neal said that a second meeting he requested with a minister to discuss his concerns about Wethersfield, following a site visit to the Essex base, had been cancelled.

He said: “The concerns related to violence, related to purposeful activity on the site, and whether or not the Home Office had got the correct expertise with which to handle 555 men who were on an ‘island’ marooned in the middle of nowhere.

“And in my experience, which in this area is quite considerable, I think there was a significant risk being run, and I made that clear to the home secretary, made that clear to ministers by letter.

“Had the meeting not been cancelled we would have discussed it again to reinforce the point that I was seeking to make. And it is a concern. (There are) mental health issues. When we were chatting... in a focus group with a number of asylum seekers, an Egyptian nearly had a fight with an Eritrean in front of us.

“That is not normal behaviour in any community, in any society, in any camp. That should not be taking place.”

The High Court granted permission on Tuesday for a trial to go ahead over conditions at RAF Wethersfield. Four asylum seekers are taking the home secretary to court after being housed at the controversial military site.