Ministers were shamefully slow in giving asylum to an Afghan war hero – they have much more to do

Editorial: The foot dragging, obfuscation and buck passing seen in this case begs the question: will the Sunak government act differently next time?

The pilot crossed the Channel in a small boat but had no other way of getting to the UK, having been rejected under the government’s relocation schemes (The Independent )

It is a stain on the government that it took a campaign by The Independent lasting five long months before the Home Office came to its senses and granted asylum to the Afghan war hero who fought alongside coalition forces against the Taliban.

Worryingly, it seems that the breakthrough happened partly because the government was shamed into doing what was so obviously right because the United States was considering offering the pilot sanctuary. That would have been an embarrassment too far, even for an administration in London that put political expediency – and its unworkable and inhumane proposal to send asylum seekers to Rwanda – above the country’s honourable tradition of helping people from around the globe flee persecution.

The British public do want to see firm control of illegal immigration, but the opinion polls also show they want a compassionate system – in summary, a “firm but fair” one. Until very late in the day, Rishi Sunak’s government displayed a marked lack of compassion.