The simmering feud between Brodie Clark and Theresa May has boiled over today. Speaking to the home affairs select committee earlier, the former border official didn’t just repeat the substance of his resignation statement from last week, but ramped it up into a rhetorical assault on the home secretary. ‘I never went rogue and I never extended the trial without the Home Secretary’s advice,’ he said of the recent easing of border controls. ‘I’m just very conscious that over 40 years I’ve built up a reputation and over two days that reputation has been destroyed and I believe that has been largely due to the contributions of the Home Secretary,’ he added for emphasis.
As yet, though, it remains Clark’s word against May’s, and neither side appears to have the winning argument. As Nick Robinson explains in a useful post here, Clark confirmed that ‘fingerprint matching’ checks were suspended without the Home Secretary’s permission, but he also claimed that this was okay thanks to pre-existing policy. No doubt the case will pivot around that detail now.
None of this is ideal for May, of course, who left Damian Green to deal with the Commons in her stead today. Her reputation in government has been built on the idea that she’s a ‘safe pair of hands’ at the Home Office; but, until we reach some sort of catharsis, these attacks from Clark will cast that into doubt. And already people are voting with their betting slips. Over at Ladbrokes, May is now the 6/4 frontrunner to be the next departure from the Cabinet. And her replacement if she does leave? Let’s just say that the favourite is a Clark-with-an-E.
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