James Brokenshire

New face, old battles.

The issue of Immigration is undoubtedly one of the biggest political footballs of the recent age.

Any Immigration Minister from either side of the House is going to find their role heavily scrutinised, reported, criticised, and politicised.

But six weeks into his tenure with the newly created Immigration and Security brief, James Brokenshire has found himself criticised more than most.

After Mark Harper’s momentous fall from grace earlier this year, Brokenshire, the MP for Old Bexley and Sidcup was promoted to Minister of State for Immigration and Security on February 8th. Having previous held the Security brief in the Home Office, Brokenshire now finds himself with the controversial Immigration mandate.

Having seriously stunted the career of high-flyer, Mark Harper, we could forgive James Brokenshire for seeing it as a poisoned challis. Despite that, he definitely hasn’t shied away from controversy and clashes with his coalition colleagues.

The creation of this dual mandate of Security and Immigration, whether intended or not, sends out a clear signal of the Government’s priority when it comes to international migration. Priorities that will appeal to the Conservative Party’s cultural base; a sector of society that, as they modernise for wider appeal, they are desperately worried to lose to the anti-progressive UKIP.

James Brokenshire started his political career after thirteen years as a lawyer, having risen to the senior position of partner in his firm. Initially the MP for Hornchurch & Rainham, the constituency was split during the boundary changes prior to the 2010 General Election and Brokenshire was forced to seek re-election elsewhere. Initially this proved difficult, with him unsuccessfully standing for selection in six different constituencies before being accepted as the candidate for Old Bexley & Sidcup on his seventh try. His search for a new seat in different locations across the country has led some in his constituency to accuse him of being a carpetbagger.

The claims James Brokenshire has been plucked from obscurity for his new position seem to forget he has previously been an Under-Secretary of State for the ‘Crime Reduction’ and ‘Crime and Security’ briefs. Before 2010 he was also a Shadow Minister for Home Affairs. While his trajectory up the ranks of Westminster has been quick, much like Mark Harper’s was, his previous roles at the centre of policy issues surrounding Crime and Terrorism were far from obscure.

While it is undoubtedly the case that James Brokenshire’s position is one of the most important for distancing the Tories politically from their coalition partners, it seems from his recent comments to the policy think-tank Demos that someone forgot to tell him he also needed to distance the Tories from UKIP as well.

Brokenshire told his audience that the benefits from Immigration go to “the wealthy metropolitan elite who wanted cheap tradesmen and services — but not to the ordinary, hard-working people of this country.”

You’d be forgiven for mistaking this for a Nigel Farage quote.

His comments have drawn criticism from all sides of the political spectrum, and have brought unwanted attention to the fact that most of his Government colleagues would fall into his definition of “metropolitan elite” and highlighting the embarrassing admission that many of them do indeed hire home-help from other countries.

Despite specialising in business law, and working closely with big commercial enterprises for most of his pre-Parliament career, Brokenshire has also found himself being attacked by big business groups. His comments that Immigration only benefits “employers who want an easy supply of cheap labour” have been widely criticised for not representing the reality of the situation.

Now six weeks into his tenure as a Minister of State, James Brokenshire has already embarrassed his boss, Theresa May, and Prime Minister David Cameron. He is presiding over, and even contributing to, a period when an already politicised position is becoming even more of a hot political topic. Will he be able to stand the heat, or will he have to get out of the kitchen?

James Brokenshire and his office were approached for comment, but none was forthcoming.