A British politician of Pakistani descent, Sajid Javid, has been appointed the United Kingdom’s new home secretary, Downing Street has announced.
On Sunday night, in a shocking move Amber Rudd resigned as the British home secretary in the wake of a growing scandal over the so-called "Windrush generation" of migrants.
Rudd was scheduled to address MPs on Monday and face a barrage of questions about why she claimed to be unaware of “deportation targets.” But she telephoned Prime Minister Theresa May to tell her of the decision to resign.
The new British home secretary is the first member of an ethnic minority to hold the position. He was previously the Communities, Local Government and Housing Secretary.
Rudd supported Remain in the European Union referendum in 2016 so his appointment maintains the Brexit balance in May’s Cabinet.
Prime Minister May announced the appointment in a tweet Monday morning.
Sajid Javid MP @SajidJavid becomes Secretary of State for the @UKHomeOffice
Rudd’s resignation came after an explosive memo emerged which suggested she was actually aware of illegal immigrant removal targets, despite telling the country’s parliament otherwise.
The leaked memo had said that officials had set “a target of achieving 12,800 enforced returns in 2017-18.” The leaked memo also boasts that “we have exceeded our target of assisted returns' and that progress had been made on achieving the 10 per cent increase in deportations they had promised Ms Rudd.”
The memo, leaked to The Guardian, contradicted evidence the secretary gave to the Home Affairs select committee just three days ago when she said she was not aware of any targets.
Rudd’s claims also contradicted evidence given to the same committee by representatives of immigration staff, who insisted employees are given targets for how many people they should deport.