New Home Secretary James Cleverly already under fire after he says: Rwanda plan is not the be all and end all

• Cleverly has urged people not to ‘fixate’ on Rwanda migration scheme
• Twenty Tory MPs have written to the Prime Minister after downplaying the plans

Twenty Tory MPs have written to the Prime Minister urging him to ‘leave all options on the table’ after the Home Secretary downplayed the Rwanda migration scheme.

The MPs have criticised James Cleverly after he urged people not to ‘fixate’ on Rwanda and said that leaving the European Convention on Human Rights would undermine attempts to stop the boats.

The letter, sent by the New Conservatives group of MPs elected in 2017 and 2019, piles pressure on the Home Secretary following a rocky start in the job.

Mr Cleverly, who replaced Suella Braverman, was last week embroiled in a row over claims he described Stockton as a ‘s***hole’. He has also been accused of downplaying record migration numbers.

One MP who signed the letter told The Mail on Sunday they were ‘angry’ at Mr Cleverly for saying the Rwanda scheme – ruled unlawful by the Supreme Court this month – was not the ‘be all and end all’. 

Home Secretary, James Cleverly (Pictured) after he urged people not to ‘fixate’ on Rwanda and said that leaving the European Convention on Human Rights would undermine attempts to stop the boats.

The MP said: ‘The Home Secretary and I were elected on a manifesto to cut migration. We made a promise to the British people to stop the boats. He would be wise to remember this and he should leave all options on the table.’

The Home Secretary was ‘taking things off the table at the time the Prime Minister said we’ll do everything and anything to make the Rwanda scheme work,’ the MP added. 

‘It sends a signal to the Right that the Government isn’t actually doing what it can do.’

Mr Sunak has pledged to bring in emergency legislation and sign a treaty with Rwanda to ensure the plan is legally watertight.

Multiple sources have said Home Office Minister Robert Jenrick is on ‘resignation watch’ over the legislation. 

Mr Jenrick pushed for plans supported by Ms Braverman while she was Home Secretary to curb migration and one MP on the Tory Right said Mr Jenrick had ‘earned their respect’.

Last Wednesday, Tory MPs from the Common Sense and New Conservatives groups met Mr Jenrick and pushed for a ‘belt and braces’ bill that would get Rwanda flights off the ground and disapply human rights laws to illegal migration.

Mr Jenrick is understood to be concerned the emergency bill will not go far enough.

A source said Mr Jenrick, who will be the Minister in charge of steering the bill through Parliament, is ‘not willing to take something through that he doesn’t agree with. He is definitely on resignation watch.’

Insiders said Mr Jenrick will face Cabinet opposition from Chancellor Jeremy Hunt, Pensions Secretary Mel Stride and Attorney General Victoria Prentis.

Commenting on last week’s record legal migration figures, a senior Tory MP said: ‘The people in government don’t get it – they don’t care about the pressures on local state schools because they send their kids to private schools.’

But a Tory MP from the moderate One Nation group pointed to job vacancy figures, saying: ‘We should be glad they are coming to us.’

Migrants are escorted ashore from a UK Border Force vessel in Dover, southeast England (Pictured).

While there has been talk of a letter of no confidence in the Prime Minister being sent, several MPs on the Right said they were waiting to see the detail of the Government’s emergency legislation first.

A No 10 source said: ‘The PM has been crystal clear that he’ll do what it takes to get flights off to Rwanda as a key part of his ten-point plan to stop the boats. 

The Government is bringing forward a new treaty with Rwanda and emergency legislation to address the concerns of the Supreme Court. He’s determined to make the Rwanda plan work.’

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