‘It’s moments like this that you realise how far we’ve fallen’: James O’Brien blasts Suella Braverman for ‘dream’ to deport migrants

5 October 2022, 15:17

‘It’s moments like this that you realise how far we’ve fallen’

Madeleine Wilson

By Madeleine Wilson

In an emotional monologue, James O’Brien called out the Home Secretary’s "despicable policy" to send migrants to Rwanda.

This comes after Home Secretary, Suella Braverman, said it would be her "dream" and "obsession" to see a flight take asylum seekers to Rwanda.

Originally introduced by her predecessor, Priti Patel, the policy would see asylum seekers who arrive in the UK sent to Rwanda to claim asylum there. The policy has been met with backlash from human rights groups and a last-minute legal challenge from the European Court of Human Rights that cancelled the first planned flight just minutes before take-off.

READ MORE: Rwanda migrant plan is not 'appalling' but 'should be a deterrent', Priti Patel tells LBC

READ MORE: Over 230 migrants land on UK shores in one day as Rwanda flight delayed 'up to a year'

James began by describing the policy as the "consequence of treating people like Nigel Farage as if they had anything valid or decent to contribute to our country".

"That weaponisation of refugees and asylum seekers and immigrants in general that has polluted every corner of this country over the last decade", he added.

"This is still ostensibly a Christian country", James said.

He added: "It seems to me very strange that Conservative politicians who wear their Christianity most prominently on their sleeves, the ones who actually talk about it, are the ones who often seem to engage in the most callous and disgusting of conduct."

"They used to be on the fringes, they used to be beyond the boundaries of acceptability", James said, adding that "they were not people who had or would ever breach the mainstream".

He went on: "I don’t even know if I can use the word racism in the context of this mornings conversation because it’s different, it’s subtler than that, it’s what you might call just a hatred of people based upon their origins".

James then played an excerpt of Martin Luther King’s famous ‘I have a dream’ speech, followed by Suella Braverman’s comments that it was her "dream" to see a flight take migrants to Rwanda, asking viewers to "focus on how different those dreams are".

James asked: "Do you dream of winning the lottery, or someone ill in your family getting better, dream of financial security, dream of peace, dream of a victory for Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s Ukraine?"

"Imagine dreaming of desperate people being deported against their will to a country they might never of heard of before. Dreaming of that and living in a country, or rather living in a bubble where relishing that prospect is not just acceptable but even perhaps admirable."

James accused the Home Secretary of "smiling and smirking, grinning and gurning, while essentially describing the delight you would take in trafficking people against their will to the other side of the world".

He added: "People who may well be genuine refugees because they don’t even start the process under this despicable policy, they don’t even start the process of assessing the application until they get to Africa and if the application is successful, they stay in Rwanda."

"It’s disgusting and it is moments like this that you realise how far we’ve fallen", James said.

Appealing to his listeners for answers, James questioned: "What is wrong with this woman? How can anybody have ended up this curdled and cruel?"

He continued: "It’s not the support for the policy, it’s the delight in its implementation, its the idea that when most of us dream of winning the lottery or seeing our football team lift the FA Cup, Suella Braverman sits awake at night dreaming of deporting completely innocent and decent fellow human beings."

After playing the Home Secretary's comments again, James asked: "What's wrong with her? What happened? Who hurt her? How does someone end up in a position like this?"

READ MORE: Blanket asylum ban for anyone who enters UK illegally under Home Sec's new plans to tackle Channel crossings

More James O'Brien

See more More James O'Brien

Sacked borders watchdog David Neal said the Home Office is 'dysfunctional' and needs reform.

'It goes to the very top': Sacked border watchdog slams Home Office and calls for reform after Cleverly row

Exclusive
Shahd Waleed is trying to leave Rafah with her parents and enter Egypt

'They want us to experience pain': Young woman trapped in Rafah with her parents tells of terror as Israel invasion looms

Sir Keir Starmer has defended comments he made about Margaret Thatcher earlier this month.

Starmer defends Thatcher comments as he says he ‘completely disagrees’ with former prime minister’s politics

A caller to James O’Brien’s programme has shared footage of the extraordinary destruction done to his newly purchased property just outside of Durham.

Property investor's shock at 'unexplainable level of damage' he discovered after buying new home

Exclusive
James Cleverly replaced Suella Braverman as home secretary on Monday

'I've spent more time with James Cleverly this week than with Suella Braverman in the last year', Sadiq Khan tells LBC

James O'Brien discusses Suella Braverman's 'destructionist' leadership style with a caller

'She's a destructionist': James O'Brien caller claims Suella Braverman governs like 'a five-year-old'

James O'Brien

'She definitely has something on him': Caller and James O'Brien debate why the PM hasn't sacked Suella Braverman yet

'A complete reset of the top' is needed says caller.

'We're being let down': There is a 'complete disconnection' between parliamentary and local Conservatives says caller

James O'Brien

'It's essential that people are able to protest peacefully against war', says James O'Brien

James O'Brien

Rishi Sunak 'almost physically moves away' from Suella Braverman in House of Commons debate, says James O'Brien

James O'Brien

'Suella Braverman succeeded - she's caused hate', claims caller after Home Secretary criticises pro-Palestine marches

'A fish rots from the head': James O'Brien caller reacts to claims of misogyny in Downing Street during Covid Inquiry

'A fish rots from the head': James O'Brien caller reacts to claims of misogyny in Downing Street during Covid Inquiry

'Ludicrous, bogus, nonsense': James O'Brien is astounded by Boris Johnson 'laughing at Italy' during the pandemic

'Ludicrous, bogus, nonsense': James O'Brien is astounded by Boris Johnson 'laughing at Italy' during the pandemic

James O'Brien on Dagestan

'It's a hatred as old as religion itself': James O'Brien analyses escalating anti-Semitism after Muslim crowd storms Dagestan airport

Carol Vorderman shocked about UK Poverty

'One million children are living in destitution': Carol Vorderman struggles to comprehend stark wealth inequality in the UK

Wes Streeting on dentistry

Wes Streeting invites the government to steal Labour's policy to solve 'dickensian' NHS dentist crisis

James O'Brien

'I think they're the loneliest voters in Britain', James O'Brien claims after Tories' double by-election defeat

JOB and caller Andy

Biden's visit to Israel is to show that the US stands 'unequivocally' with Israel says James O'Brien caller

JOB and Usman

Israel's current response will only 'strengthen' Hamas by rearing Gazans who seek revenge warns this James O'Brien caller

JOB on deaths in conflict

James O'Brien unpacks the 'controversial' feeling of being 'equally devastated' by Palestinian and Israeli deaths

JOB on starmer speech

Keir Starmer is using 'working class as the opposite of having a sense of entitlement', notes James O'Brien

JOB on HS2 promises

James O'Brien criticises Rishi Sunak's watering down of 'illustrative' Network North projects funded by HS2 cut

Sadiq Khan and James O'Brien

Sadiq Khan declares there is 'no place for anti-Semitism' in London as kosher restaurant in Golders Green attacked

James O'Brien on the challenge HS2 scrappage poses to Labour.

‘How much can Rishi Sunak knock down before Keir Starmer becomes Prime Minister?, asks James O’Brien

James O'Brien

Rishi Sunak is like an 'incontinent cat': James O'Brien slams Tories ahead of PM's Party Conference speech

JoB and Jeremy Hunt

Navy veteran deeply hurt by Jeremy Hunt's plans to clamp down on benefit claimants

James O'Brien on Tory tactics in the upcoming election.

Tories desperately seeking wedge issues is the 'only way' they will retain power in 2024, says James O'Brien

James and caller Mervin on knife crime

'I'd prefer you to go to jail than die': James O'Brien is left aghast by this caller's father's stance on knife possession

James O'Brien

James O'Brien ridicules those prioritising Labour's private school VAT plans over the cost of living crisis

James O'Brien

'I mean this is a novel': James O'Brien hears why this caller blames Labour for HS2 problems

James O'Brien

James O'Brien takes aim at uninformed 'idiots' criticising Keir Starmer for not wanting to diverge from EU rules

JOB on Rishi Sunak Bins

Rishi 'seven-bin' Sunak is lifting bans that 'don't exist', asserts James O'Brien