On what planet did Sunak think...

[CurlewKate]

....saying "I saw three ships....not on my watch!" in a speech at a Christmas party was anything but crass and insensitive?

It's often the little things that highlight how appalling they are. Even if you agree with anti immigration measures, it's never a subject for cheap jokes.

What I want to know is how those three ships sailed into landlocked Bethlehem.
(Completely misses the point)

It's the self congratulatory smirk that accompanies each such asinine comment that gets me. As if he's made such a witty remark us plebs couldn't possibly understand it and if offence is taken its because we're too stupid to grasp the issue.

It's not even accurate, if he's trying to imply that three boats couldn't get through on his watch.

If the Holy Family turned up here, Sunak would probably want to send them to Rwanda.

Trying to throw a bone to the nut job fringe of the Tory party so they don't overthrow him and replace him with Suella.

No room at the inn here, onto the Bibby Stockholm with you, Mary and Joseph!
Technically the Holy Family aren’t refugees until later in the Bible story when they flee from King Herod into Egypt. But still. Fuck off, Sunak.

@scalt "What I want to know is how those three ships sailed into landlocked Bethlehem. "

Yes-I've wondered that too.
Damn clever these foreigners....

They stopped even pretending to give a shit or have an ounce of compassion a long time ago. It's a cheap nasty little joke from a cheap nasty little man

I don’t think Christmas carols are supposed to be historically accurate! Especially all that frost and snow…

Camels are known as "the ship of the desert".

I always assumed it was a reference to that!

He’s a racist through and through but no one ever calls him out on it. He’s no better than Suella, they should have married each other really.

Can you imagine being the sort of person who could actually say that out loud? I don't think I can.

The third verse also invents a wife for Jesus, so whoever wrote this was clearly not concerned about accuracy:

And what was in those ships all three,
On Christmas day in the morning?

Our Saviour Christ and his lady,
On Christmas day, on Christmas day;

Yep. That's the smirk he gave each time he told some of us we were excluded from Covid financial support. He's odious.

@lavenderlou

Trying to throw a bone to the nut job fringe of the Tory party so they don't overthrow him and replace him with Suella

Exactly. I don’t actually think that’s really how he feels which is why it always lands wonkily. I wish he’d be brave and stand up to them.

Surely the saviours “lady” was his mother, not his wife.

That had never occurred to me!
Always thought it must be tied up with the Spanish tradition of kings arriving on boats on January 6th. Religion baffles me.

And yes, OP, Sunak et al don’t have a gram of compassion for anyone. Only the wealthy and privileged live in their little bubble.

Surely "his lady" is Mary?

The Tories like to present themselves as the party who care about tradition, respect religious beliefs and so on, but cheap jokes like that show they don't give a shit. They care about money for themselves and their donors, always have done and always will.

Does he think?

Even if you were a person who wholeheartedly supported him and all his pledges, saying "I saw three ships...not on my watch" is just highlighting that actually yes, yes on your watch. The boats have not been stopped. It's weirdly self congratulatory for a policy that hasn't worked.

Do you know that Rishi doesn't have any planes to send people to Rwanda, no airline is willing to do it, and no airfield has enough security? Or continuing the "three ships" theme, is he going to use ships which can sail over both land and sea, like in the fairy tale "The Golden Goose"?

A grand plan which he knows he will never have to actually carry out, because he knows he will be out of power before it becomes a reality?