David Cameron must visit Calais before passing judgement on it

A migrant runs away from tear gas thrown by police forces near the Channel Tunnel in Calais (AP)

Over half a century ago Britain played its part in saving the lives of another “bunch of migrants”.

Close to 100,000 Jews from across Europe fled to our shores in search of a better life and safety from the persecution of ruthless dictators.

Yesterday we celebrated Holocaust Memorial Day in tribute to those who were not lucky enough to escape, remembering why it is so important to act in the face of such atrocities.

During yesterday’s Prime Minister’s Questions, Cameron took a moment to pay respects to the memory of one group of refugees only to undermine the suffering of another in an unattractive effort at cheap political point-scoring.

That Jeremy Corbyn visited the refugee camps in Calais and Dunkirk last week, and that he suggested Britain should play a role in helping the thousands of starving men, women and child there, was tantamount, in the mind of our dear leader, to weakness.

Cameron prefers going for a pint with China’s President Xi Jinping or finalising arms deals with King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia – nodding and smiling while the human rights elephant stomps around the room, beheading civilians and restricting internet access wherever it roams.

I would urge David Cameron to take a trip to France.

I have visited the refugee camps in Calais and Dunkirk and remain haunted by the things I saw: educated adults forced to beg for food, women with no access to basic sanitary products, unaccompanied children living in the mud with nowhere safe to go.

The Jungle, as it has come to be known, is for all intents and purposes a lawless society. The French police circle the perimeter twenty-four hours a day – only entering to demolish shelters or teargas protesters – but remain uninterested in what actually goes on inside the camp.

I met students, teachers, pharmacists, pastors, labourers – people from all walks of life – who were once happy in their home countries and had fled at enormous personal risk to reach the safety of our shores.

Despite what you might read in the Mail, the camp is nothing like Glastonbury.

There are tents, of course, and a fascinating black market economy has emerged over the years, as entrepreneurial refugees seeking to make the best of their situation have set up shack shops and restaurants. But the key difference to Glastonbury is, after a few days, you get to go home. These people have no such luxury.

Yet they make the best of their situation. They play football in the road and share books and hold open mic nights. They come together as a community – Afghans, Iraqis, Kurds, Ethiopians, Syrians – and make the best of a bad situation.

Allowing some of the unaccompanied children into Britain is a step in the right direction but more must be done to help the people who, through no fault of their own, have found themselves without access to food, shelter or healthcare.

There is a common consensus on how we talk about the Holocaust and its victims.

A clear consensus has yet to emerge on the subject of Calais. Our leaders would do well to try and be on the right side of history when dealing with this “bunch of migrants”.