Theresa May’s pet theories

Oh dear. Theresa May told the conference just before lunch: “I’m not making this up…”

A criminal could not be deported because he cited a relationship with his pet cat and invoked article eight of the European convention on human rights.

Well, it is made up actually. The man’s lawyer cited he had a relationship with a longstanding girlfriend. The lawyer cited a whole load of other things to support his client’s claim of being established here which included a pet cat.

But, as the Ministry of Justice appears to be very keen to point out, the judge did not pass judgement on the basis of the cat.

Just caught up with Ken Clarke who said  he’d bet and “I think I’d win that bet” that no-one had their deportation rejected on the grounds of relationship with a cat. He said he had a Victor Meldrew (“I don’t believe it”) moment when he heard her say it as he sat in the front row of the conference hall.

I suppose the moral of the story is, if a section of your speech is preceded by the phrase “I’m not making this up” it might be worth running a light check on the facts.