'Woke' ex-police chief set to take charge of Labour Government's new attempts to stop the boats

A former police chief who once said he was proud to be woke is in line to lead the new Government's attempts to stop the boats.

Neil Basu, who served as head of Counter Terror Policing for three years, is the frontrunner to become Border Security Commander on a salary of up to £200,000.

He advised new Home Secretary Yvette Cooper on tackling illegal migration in opposition and endorsed Labour at the party's election launch event.

And his likely appointment has been called into question by senior Conservatives who worked with him before he retired from Scotland Yard in 2022 after being overlooked for the job of running the National Crime Agency.

Mr Basu, who was the most senior non-white officer in the UK, has made a series of controversial comments including urging the Metropolitan Police to accept it is still institutionally racist and saying positive discrimination may be necessary.

He also threatened to prosecute journalists for publishing leaked US embassy cables, and in an interview shortly after stepping down he likened then Home Secretary Suella Braverman to Enoch Powell when she said it was her dream to see asylum-seekers deported to Rwanda.

'I find some of the commentary coming out of the Home Office inexplicable. It is unbelievable to hear a succession of very powerful politicians who look like this talking in language that my father would have remembered from 1968. It's horrific,' he told Channel 4 News.

He also admitted he was proud to be woke, saying: 'Are you alert to issues of racial and social justice? Yes, I am. And if that is the definition of woke, I'll wear it as a bumper sticker every day of the week.'

Last night one senior Tory told the Mail: 'He will be delighted that there's a Labour government. This is a job for their mates.

'They talk tough but you've got people who have got no intention of stopping the boats.

'Is he going to put boots on the ground in France? We know the French won't allow that.'

Politics professor at the University of Kent Matthew Goodwin wrote: 'The very man tipped to be appointed by Labour to tackle the small boats, Neil Basu, has previously said he is 'proud to be woke', compared Suella Braverman to Enoch Powell, has suggested diversity and inclusion are the most important things in policing, spoken positively about the revolutionary group Black Lives Matter (BLM), and openly opposed a 'No Deal' Brexit.

'Is this the kind of appointment to restore public confidence and trust, not just in how the small boats crisis is being managed by our police and government departments?'

James Cleverly, Home Secretary until last week, has also questioned why the Labour Government is setting up a new Border Security Command given that a similar unit already exists, led by a former head of the army training college at Sandhurst.

'Has the Small Boats Operational Command been disbanded? Has General Capps been made redundant? Will the SBOC staff be fired and rehired? What is the difference between the two organisations' functions? Or is this just a gimmick?' Mr Cleverly wrote online.

Former Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick told GB News that Labour was 'hopelessly naïve' to scrap the Rwanda deterrent and that its new plan is 'replicating what we already have'.