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From this:

[Former Downing Street adviser] Andrew Neather said the mass influx of migrant workers seen in recent years [to the UK] was not the result of a mistake or miscalculation but rather a policy the party preferred not to reveal to its core voters.

He said the strategy was intended to fill gaps in the labour market and make the UK more multicultural, at the same time as scoring political points against the Opposition.

Mr Neather worked as a speechwriter for Tony Blair and in the Home Office for Jack Straw and David Blunkett.

While I'm not overly familiar with the situation there, the most shocking thing about this is that anyone would have thought it wasn't their deliberate policy. The same is true here in the U.S., where - following the orders of their respective presidents who are no doubt following orders from others - Michael Chertoff and Janet Napolitano have pretended to enforce the laws while doing the opposite. The Democratic Party and their allies with far-left organizations are using massive immigration in order to obtain more power, and the Republican Party foolishly thinks they can somehow obtain their own share of power at the same time as they allow the situation in order to help their donors "fill gaps in the labour market". To many on the far-left (and some not on the far-left, such as John McCain), increasing "multiculturalism" is a goal in itself, and for all supporters of massive immigration cries of "racist" are used to silence debate.

In the UK, this has played no doubt a large role in increasing support for the BNP, which might be at least in some ways as bad as the impression that their opponents try to give. After BNP head Nick Griffin appeared on a BBC show (which was crashed by their far-left opponents), a poll showed growing support (link):

The YouGov poll, taken hours after the BBC show aired, indicates that 22% of people in this country would ‘seriously consider’ voting for the far-right party in an upcoming election.

More than half of the 1,314 people polled said they agreed, or thought the party had a point, in 'speaking up for the interests of indigenous, white British people'.

As for the BNP themselves, they're claiming that because of all of this the Labour Party is guilty of violating a UN charter on the rights of indigenous people (link).

10/26/09 UPDATE: It was all a dream, just a crazy dream. Neather now says (link):

There was no plot... Multiculturalism was not the primary point of the report or the speech. The main goal was to allow in more migrant workers at a point when – hard as it is to imagine now – the booming economy was running up against skills shortages..."

And:

He admitted he had a sense from several discussions at the time that there was a subsidiary purpose of boosting diversity and undermining the right's opposition to multiculturalism, but Neather insisted it was not the main point at issue.

"Somehow this has become distorted by excitable rightwing newspaper columnists into being a 'plot' to make Britain multicultural. There was no plot. I've worked closely with Ms Roche and Jack Straw and they are both decent, honourable people who I respect … What's more both were robust on immigration when they needed to be. Straw had driven through a tough Immigration and Asylum Act in 1999 and Roche had braved particularly cruel flak from the left over asylum seekers."

10/27/09 UPDATE: The title of this refers to Neather's report: "Immigrant crime fear airbrushed from Government report/Warnings of links between mass immigration and crime were removed from a key Home Office report amid fears they would be used by critics, it has emerged.".

11/02/09 UPDATE: Home Secretary Alan Johnson is trying to triangulate, admitting mistakes (Labour had been "maladroit" on the issue) but also trying to keep the labor flowing (link):

Mr Johnson outlined four principles in the debate on immigration which he said should be accepted by everyone:

* That there was 'no sensible argument' for immigration to cease altogether
* Some communities more affected by immigration than others had 'legitimate concerns about the strain that the growth in the local population has placed on jobs and services'
* Other countries are affected by the problems caused by immigration
* People who come to live here should learn the language, obey the laws and pay tax