Matt Hancock has signed up to host a Ukrainian refugee – haven’t these poor people suffered enough?

There doesn’t seem to be a huge amount of clarity around regarding what happens if a Ukrainian refugee isn’t altogether happy with the people who’ve generously hosted them

The home office has had a rare moment of far-sightedness by stepping aside entirely and leaving compassion to the British public (Daniel Leal/AFP via Getty Images)

In the seven very long years in which I have been observing events in the House of Commons, I cannot recall a despatch box being slapped in anger before.

So it must mean that Michael Gove really is angry. And what’s he angry about? Well, if I tell you, you’ll have to promise not to do a Michael Gove and slap the nearest thing you can get your hands on, as you’ll certainly be tempted.

Michael Gove has “had it up to here”. And what’s he had it up to here with? He’s had it up to here with “people trying to suggest that this country is not generous” to refugees. He was absolutely furious.

If this is how angry Gove is prepared to get in public at the idea that he – or the government – is anything less than overflowing with the milk of human kindness, then we must extend our sympathies to anyone who had to witness the kind of incandescent rage that must have happened in 2016.

How little Govey must have raged when he saw those Vote Leave adverts. You might recall the ones with the blatant lie on that “Turkey is joining the EU”. But it wasn’t just that. They’d also taken the trouble to do some judicious colouring-in, drawing little arrows that pointed from Iraq and Syria to Britain.

Iraq and Syria were being bombed at the time, in some places, by Russia. Thousands of people were drowning in the Mediterranean. But there was a sizeable chunk of the British population who were appalled at the idea that these terrified, desperate people might end up in the UK. And how furious little Govey must have been when he saw these adverts directly exploiting their unimaginable suffering to get his cause over the line.

If he’s had it up to here now, then one hardly dares imagine where he’d had it up to back then. How much it must burn that people have the audacity to draw any kind of link at all between Michael Gove and Michael Gove’s own actions. The rancid injustice of it.

All of this brings us on to the announcement of the new Ukrainian refugee programme. He was here to explain that the government will now pay you £350 a month if you’re willing to house a Ukrainian refugee, with the slightly odd caveat that you have to know their name first.

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Arguably, most enjoyably of all, several experts in this area have pointed out that actually the idea is quite clever. It’s because, while it might be tough for ordinary households to get their hands on the names of people they’ve never met from a country they’ve never been to, they’ll probably still be better at it than the Home Office − and more compassionate too.

The Home Office has, in other words, had a rare moment of far-sightedness by being briefly aware of its own incompetence and lack of human compassion, so has just stepped aside entirely. And maybe they’re right. Within two hours of the scheme going live, 20,000 people had already registered, and are eagerly awaiting their refugee’s arrival.

It’s progress of sorts. Barely two weeks ago, a Home Office minister said Ukrainians were free to come here as long as they registered to work as a fruit picker first. Now, the UK public is doing the hard work to help refugees.

Look, it’s probably fine; it’s probably nothing to worry about. But at the time of writing, there doesn’t seem to be a huge amount of clarity regarding what happens if a Ukrainian refugee isn’t altogether happy with the people who’ve hosted them. And I only mention it because, well, apparently Matt Hancock has signed up. Haven’t these poor people suffered enough already?

The Independent has a proud history of campaigning for the rights of the most vulnerable, and we first ran our Refugees Welcome campaign during the war in Syria in 2015. Now, as we renew our campaign and launch this petition in the wake of the unfolding Ukrainian crisis, we are calling on the government to go further and faster to ensure help is delivered. To find out more about our Refugees Welcome campaign, click here. To sign the petition click here. If you would like to donate then please click here for our GoFundMe page.