Immigration Minister Mark Harper quits over cleaner's visa

[raynaputi]

Immigration minister Mark Harper has resigned from the government after it emerged his cleaner did not have permission to work in the UK.


Read more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-26101442

---

What a joke eh??? :doh:NoNo::thumbsdown:

[Dedworth]

Classic :laugher: - you'd think he'd have been more careful particularly as Labour's Attorney General Baroness Scotland got fined £5k for the same offence in 2009, she didn't have the common decency to resign though.

[joebloggs]

It added there was "no suggestion" the 43-year-old Conservative MP for the Forest of Dean had "knowingly employed an illegal immigrant". does he know the law :biggrin:
i wonder if he will get a £10k fine :icon_lol:

not the only one, at least this guy had a fake passport :wink:
http://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/Cambridge/What-would-Sir-Winston-say-Illegal-immigrant-got-job-at-Cambridge-Universitys-Churchill-College-using-false-French-passport-20140207054032.htm

[andy222]

Come off it guys it was a genuine mistake.:yikes:

[Terpe]

You really couldn't make it up :doh:doh

It's a disgrace........
and yes joe, by rights and in fairness he should be slapped a £10k fine unless he can prove he made the appropriate checks. Which he obviously didn't :censored:

What a pratt!

[stevewool]

Or I wonder what he was paying, the going rate?

[joebloggs]

I wonder if he kept copies of her passport in 2007 and 2012 :cwm25:, why would they need ILR , she must have had an NI number :wink:


"Mark Harper offered his resignation after he was informed that his cleaner did not have indefinite leave to remain in the United Kingdom, despite having shown him documents claiming she did.



http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/458725/Immigration-minister-Mark-Harper-quits-over-illegal-immigrant-cleaner

[johncar54]

I have sympathy for the guy, however, it proves that a country cannot have a law that makes every employer and landlord responsible when they employ an illegal or rent to them, when even the Minister cannot understand the law /have the time to make all the checks, or cannot be bothered to do so.

Farcical !

[grahamw48]

You really couldn't make it up :doh:doh

It's a disgrace........
and yes joe, by rights and in fairness he should be slapped a £10k fine unless he can prove he made the appropriate checks. Which he obviously didn't :censored:

What a pratt

You said it for me Peter, plus, these situations could be avoided if (with all all due respect to our Filipina board members) such people didn't seek to employ 'cheap labour', rather than employing a local at a sensible rate of pay...given that the former Minister was hardly on the breadline. :NoNo:

[johncar54]

You said it for me Peter, plus, these situations could be avoided if (with all all due respect to our Filipina board members) such people didn't seek to employ 'cheap labour', rather than employing a local at a sensible rate of pay...given that the former Minister was hardly on the breadline. :NoNo:

Graham he did not pay the cleaner, the taxpayer did. So it did not happen because he wanted to employ 'cheap labour.'

[joebloggs]

Graham he did not pay the cleaner, the taxpayer did. So it did not happened because he wanted to employ 'cheap labour.'

Not so sure.


has resigned after learning that his private cleaner for seven years did not have permission to work in the UK.


"In retrospect, I should have checked more thoroughly," he conceded to Cameron. After being unable to locate some of the cleaner's documentation,

http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/feb/09/mark-harper-immigration-minister-resigns

exchange of letters between Harper and David Cameron:
http://blogs.spectator.co.uk/coffeehouse/2014/02/breaking-mark-harper-resigns-as-immigration-minister-over-cleaner/

[johncar54]

Joe, I was quoting what (I am sure) I heard on the BBC or Sky News this morning. They/I might be wrong.

But the point I was initially making was that it should not be for the employer to ensure the law is being respected and be legally liable if it is not.

I this case. I really do not believe that a Government Minster (whom we pay to take care of the country's bigger problems) should have to be concerned with a part time cleaner.

[grahamw48]

Also makes one wonder how these people get National Insurance numbers, PAYE numbers, etc.

Something is seriously amiss in our government departments I'm thinking. :NoNo:

[Iani]

You really couldn't make it up

What a pratt

Exactly! Words fail me, how the blazes can HE amongst anyone get this wrong? It's like the chief of police not realising he'd need a warrant to enter a property, or a telephone engineer not knowing what all those funny wires on top of wooden poles are for

[johncar54]

Iani, Sorry not the same as a Police Chief etc, you are referring to their jobs. It is not their job (or should not be) that an employer/landlord must enforce the laws on immigration. Isn't that what the Border Agency is for ?

[grahamw48]

It's simply a matter of being vigilant and using proper procedures...whoever is involved.

It's called DOING YOUR JOB !

Let's hope our security services aren't as lax. :NoNo:

[johncar54]

It's called DOING YOUR JOB

Graham, that was the point I was trying to make, it is the job of The Border Agency, it should not now be also the job (unpaid) of a prospective employer or landlord. Rather like making the landlord or employer responsible if a person uses drugs, or does something else illegal, on one's premises.

The law (or is it proposed law) is wrong.

[grahamw48]

We ALL have individual responsibility !

Too many people passing the buck in this country already, and too many people taking advantage of loopholes and apathy...including greedy landlords. I have no sympathy for them, or employers.

Checking someone's right to be in this country is not rocket science, whether or not the UKBA have let someone pass through the (threadbare) net.

[Dedworth]

At least he had the common decency to resign unlike Ministers in the previous Government (and it's remnants like quangocrat Lord Smith) who are supreme blame dodgers.

[joebloggs]

I've been asked a couple of times to bring my passport in, as everyone has where i work to prove we have a right to work, in most cases its pretty straight forward as most of us are British citizens, some might have ILR, the only time it might be a bit tricky is if they are on a spouse visa, FLR or a student visa, where this visa could expire, but then its not difficult for someone in personnel dept to make a note in their diary\outlook etc the date someone's visa has expired and to check their status again.

he claims he did everything he could, then he states
In retrospect, I should have checked more thoroughly," he conceded to Cameron. After being unable to locate some of the cleaner's documentation, :cwm25:

[joebloggs]

At least he had the common decency to resign unlike Ministers in the previous Government (and it's remnants like quangocrat Lord Smith) who are supreme blame dodgers.

Immigration Minister had 'no choice' but to resign

http://www.itv.com/news/update/2014-02-09/immigration-minister-had-no-choice-but-to-resign/

[Dedworth]

Immigration Minister had 'no choice' but to resign
http://www.itv.com/news/update/2014-02-09/immigration-minister-had-no-choice-but-to-resign/



Baroness Scotland was appointed by Gordon Brown to be the government’s chief legal adviser. Prior to becoming Attorney General she worked as a minister in the Home Office, cracking down on illegal migrants and imposing tougher penalties on business and individuals who employ them was passed.

http://order-order.com/2009/09/17/baroness-scotland-has-no-defence-unless-she-checked-and-copied/

Labour ethnic persons who are above the law never fall on their swords :icon_lol:

[grahamw48]

Would the same pathetic excuses be acceptable to a police officer or a court of law, if your car insurance policy was found to be out of date, not covering you for business use, etc ? I think not. :NoNo:

[andy222]

Id see a doctor if I was you Ded. You keep going into the past. Sign of dementia mate. :wink::icon_lol:. We are talking about now this guy is a disgrace he should be fined double after all it was is the Tories who keep (HARPING) on about the rules of immigration.:xxgrinning--00xx3:

[grahamw48]

I have no party affiliations on this.

IMO, incompetent fools have no place in government or Parliament, and certainly no right to lecture the rest of us.

[Dedworth]

Id see a doctor if I was you Ded. You keep going into the past. Sign of dementia mate.:wink:.:icon_lol:. We are talking about now this guy is a disgrace he should be fined double after all it was is the tories who keep (HARPING) on about the rules of immingaration.:xxgrinning--00xx3:

Just reinforcing the fact Andy that he's done the honourable thing and resigned unlike "Baroness" Scotland who's probably swigging cocktails in Manhattan now on UN expenses with her pal "Baroness" Amos - both fine upstanding women of the people http://www.sherv.net/cm/emoticons/sick/vomit-into-the-toilet.gif

[grahamw48]

Agree with you on the Baronesses Dedworth. Hypocrisy, social climbing, low morals and parasitism at its worst. :mad:

[Dedworth]

Amos has never had a proper job in her life - councils, equal opportunities commission, various publicly funded quangocrat type positions. In the same mould as that vile apparatchik Baroness Ashton and the Kinnocks, still as a fellow comrade Andy's OK with them living the high life on his taxes :icon_lol:

[johncar54]

incompetent fools have no place in government or Parliament, and certainly no right to lecture the rest of us.

FOR RENT, large building on the north bank of the Thames, two large halls plus many other offices, vacant possession guaranteed.

[joebloggs]

Just reinforcing the fact Andy that he's done the honourable thing and resigned unlike "Baroness" Scotland who's probably swigging cocktails in Manhattan now on UN expenses with her pal "Baroness" Amos - both fine upstanding women of the people http://www.sherv.net/cm/emoticons/sick/vomit-into-the-toilet.gif

Honourable! :icon_lol:,


He was behind the Government's controversial "go home" vans which were a series of marked vans which drove around areas with signs such as "Here Illegally? Go Home or Risk Arrest."

The campaign was widely criticised by many politicians on both sides of the political spectrum, and ministers later scrapped the scheme.

http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/home-news/immigration-minister-resigns-for-employing-a-cleaner-illegally.1391874170

I bet Cameron didn't ask him to reconsider :biggrin:

[joebloggs]

Amos has never had a proper job in her life - :

Same for Cameron, the only job was working for the Tory party apart from one other :biggrin:

[grahamw48]

This could run and run...:biggrin:

[joebloggs]

This could run and run...:biggrin:

:icon_lol: I'm too busy, no matter what party he was in, he should have got the boot, he preaches one thing and does the opposite :biggrin:

[grahamw48]

He's an MP ! :icon_lol:

[Dedworth]

same for Cameron, the only job was working for the Tory party apart from one other :biggrin:

Are you sure he didn't work for any quangos, regulatory authorities, NGO's, councils, race relation boards Joe ?

[joebloggs]

Are you sure he didn't work for any quangos, regulatory authorities, NGO's, councils, race relation boards Joe ?

:cwm25: I don't know, I know he was given 2 jobs, working for the Tory party and a job at Carlton which his mother in law got him :biggrin:


The manner in which he obtained the job says much about how men of Cameron's background tend to progress through life.

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2010/feb/20/david-cameron-the-pr-years

[grahamw48]

Of course the old boys network only applies to those perceived as 'toffs'. :icon_rolleyes:

It never happened in the mining industry did it...or many other blue-collar occupations, trades, small businesses, farms ? :cwm25:

Most of us use 'contacts'. It's the way of the world. Sometimes it's good to have friends and relations.


Wherever would that game of marbles for grownups...GOLF be, if not for such social interactions for the sole purpose of furthering careers and business interests ?

[Dedworth]

Of course the old boys network only applies to those perceived as 'toffs'. :icon_rolleyes:

It never happened in the mining industry did it...or many other blue-collar occupations, trades, small businesses, farms ? :cwm25:

Most of us use 'contacts'. It's the way of the world. Sometimes it's good to have friends and relations.

:xxgrinning--00xx3:That's why the socialists climb up the greasy pole via publicly funded quangos, regulatory authorities, NGO's, councils, race relation boards etc

[joebloggs]

:xxgrinning--00xx3:That's why the socialists climb up the greasy pole via publicly funded quangos, regulatory authorities, NGO's, councils, race relation boards etc

Is that how your hero Bob Crow started out, Dedworth :yikes:

[Dedworth]

is that how your hero Bob Crow started out dedworth :yikes:

No like that comical Defence Minister Bungling Bob Ainsworth in the dying days of the Brown Govt Beach Bum Bob decided the world of honest paid employment didn't suit him and became a full time paid union official at the earliest opportunity. I think bloated Tom Watson took the same fast track route to becoming an MP :biggrin:

[Dedworth]

The cleaner has finally been shipped out :-

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/tory-ministers-illegal-immigrant-cleaner-deported-back-to-colombia-9641016.html

:icon_lol: I like the way they've upset the publicly funded lawyers by coming for her in the middle of the night

[grahamw48]

Good news. :xxgrinning--00xx3:

Criminality should not be rewarded...or subsidised out of our taxes.