The Thick of It saga over UK borders

If the writers of The Thick of It ever think of writing an episode in which the protagaonists go mad behind the scenes for 24 hours then have their actions unpicked in public by Select Committee questioning, they might want a tape of today’s evidence session by the Home Affairs Select Committee on UK borders.

Some MPs tried to paint the resigned civil servant Brodie Clark as a man dead set on light checks who sneaked them past the ministers. Mr Clark portrayed himself as a wronged dutiful official who was only doing what everyone had always done in the UK Border Agency, lowering the security checks when health and safety worries demanded it.

The committee was told that airports and ports declared health and safety emergencies too quickly and not only when the queues at Calais went to the motorway or planes were circling over Heathrow because landed planes couldn’t unload passengers because of the customs hall backlog.

Somewhere in the Home Office, Mr Clark’s fate escalated from a retirement package to suspension and possible disciplinary proceedings and you couldn’t help wondering whether the permanent secretary was in contact with ministers in those key moments, or simply guessing their wishes. Rob Whiteman, new chief executive of the UK Border Agency, suggested that Mr Clark knew he was circumventing what ministers wanted and that ministers didn’t understand how security checks were relaxed for health and safety issues – oh, and they weren’t being relaxed in line with internal agency guidance anyway.

What wasn’t really explored was whether the UK Border Agency has the resources to keep flows at passport checks at an acceptable level. Another thing that wasn’t touched on was that Rob Whiteman, Brodie Clark and the man investigating Brodie Clark, John Vine, all applied for the job as Chief Executive UKBA. Rob Whiteman actually got it and started only a few short weeks ago in the post.