Illegal immigration won John Howard the 2001 Australian election. We had the Tampa Boat Crisis where Australia, in violation of maritime law, refused assistance to people rescued from international waters, we had claims, later proven false, that refugees had thrown their children into the water in a bid to have them picked up by the watching Australian Navy, and plenty of other spurious claims which all turned out to be lies post-election. The Australian public ate it up and duly re-elected Howard.

With the current election cmapaign in the UK, it had been noted that two of the key architects of John Howard’s Australian victory had been hired to help the Conservatives defeat Labour. To no-one’s great surprise immigration was made a hot-topic and the usual crap talking points surfaced. Now it appears that Tory front-benchers are asking that the immigration rhetoric be toned down amid fears that it’s not having the desired effect.

At least some people see through the bullshit.