As in business, sport and war, so also in politics: one of the defining features of political leadership is to pursue objectives with stamina but also to know precisely when to make a tactical move back or sideways to better secure the larger portion of the prize.
So it is now with the prime minister and his Rwanda bill. The House of Lords has done its job of trying to revise flawed proposals, and is now asking for only two quite reasonable amendments: the implementation of safeguards in the UK-Rwanda treaty, and an exemption aimed at saving the lives of those nationals – including Afghan forces – who have been “agents, allies and employees of the UK overseas”.
Lord Browne, who served as defence secretary, has championed this new clause and argues: “We are told that many who have braved death and injury and are forced into exile as a result of assisting our armed forces in fighting the Taliban, are to be punished for arriving here by irregular routes – even when owing to wrongful refusals on our part or possible malfeasance on the part of the special forces, that compelled them to take these routes in the first place.”
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