Boris Johnson trying to distract from Partygate lawbreaking with Rwanda plan, Tory MP says

Select committee chair Tobias Ellwood

Prime minister Boris Johnson (AP)

Boris Johnson is trying to distract the public from his lockdown law-breaking with an eye-catching announcement on immigration, a senior Conservative MP has said.

Tobias Ellwood, who chairs parliament's defence select committee, said plans to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda for processing were a "massive distraction".

Mr Johnson on Thursday is expected to make a speech on Thursday laying out details of the policy, which will see refugees claiming asylum in Britain flown thousands of miles away to the landlocked African country.

But the timing of the announcement has raised eyebrows, coming just days after the prime minister received his first fine for breaking lockdown rules at a birthday party for himself in Downing Street.

"He's trying to make an announcement today on migration, and all of this is a massive distraction," Mr Ellwood told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

"It's not going away. It is a crisis. It requires crisis management. There needs to be a plan.

"Otherwise, we're in drift mode, with potentially more resignations and more letters of concern. That isn't where we want to go - it will then dominate the political agenda."

The select committee chair added: "My concern is, is that this will then drift because there are four more fixed penalty notices to come and the Sue Gray report as well.

"There needs to be an opportunity in the very near future for us to draw a line on where we go and how the party then moves forward."

The prime minister has faced called to resign from some Tory MPs in light of the relations that Mr Johnson broke his own rules while others were locked down.

Mr Johnson is expected to announce plans to put the navy in charge of Channel operations from Friday and and end to the practice of holding refugees in hotels.

The government is thought to have finalised a “migration and economic development partnership” with Rwanda which could see it house a processing centre for people trying to reach the UK.

A similar system in Australia has led to dramatic human rights abuses, and British politicians have long considered copying it, but struggled to find a country willing to locate a centre.