Will our shambolic asylum system spark a populist revolt?

The Clapham acid attack demands that an official inquiry be commissioned into the phenomenon of asylum seekers converting to Christianity

Photo: Metropolitan police

Another week, another asylum scandal. This time, it’s the suspect in the horrific Clapham acid attack, which saw a mother and her two children hospitalised with burn injuries (which, in the case of the mother, are said to be ‘life-changing’).

We have learned in recent days some pretty disturbing facts about the man – Abdul Shokoor Ezedi – who is being hunted by police.

Ezedi left Afghanistan in 2016, arriving on these shores in the back of a lorry. His asylum application was rejected by the Home Office later that year.

Ezedi then made a second application. This time he claimed that he had converted to Christianity, meaning that he might be at risk if he were sent back to his home country. But this application, too, was rejected.

If Ezedi’s backstory were not dubious enough on these facts alone, there is also the small matter of his conviction in 2018 for sexual assault and exposure. The Daily Telegraph has reported that Ezedi was handed suspended jail sentences at Newcastle crown court for grabbing a woman’s buttocks and exposing himself at a bus stop.

Ezedi then appealed against the rejection of his second application and, in 2020, a tribunal found in his favour and granted him leave to remain in the country. It appears that Ezedi found a church witness to corroborate the story of his ‘conversion’.

And then the Clapham incident happened.  

The surprise is that anyone should be surprised. For around a quarter of a century, Britain’s immigration and asylum system has been a complete basket case. In fact, the apparent inability of any government to ensure that our borders are properly policed and asylum claims are dealt with swiftly, rigorously and competently has been a major contributory factor to the acute disconnect that now exists between the British political class and millions of ordinary voters.