This book has not referred to politics in any meaningful way so far. In part this has been deliberate, to avoid the heuristically convenient yet real-life illusion that policy stages exist, from elections decided on party manifestos to policies subsequently enacted by elected representatives. However, the impression that policy is made in a vacuum is wrong: politics matters. This chapter seeks to examine some of the key events, the most important political players and how the two main parties have locked horns on the issue of migration. The subsequent chapters consider how politicians and parties have responded to electoral attitudes, and how far the media has affected policy.

There are many political accounts of immigration policy development (for example: Layton-Henry, 1984, pp 30–43; Saggar, 1992, 1998), some of which have focused on influential politicians, such as Margaret Thatcher (Messina, 1989) or Enoch Powell (Foot, 1969). This is unsurprising as the political decision makers have long been considered important in the policy process (Lasswell, 1948; Parsons, 1995). In fact, Marsh et al (2000) argue that Cabinet ministers have taken on an increasingly significant policy-making role over the last decade. Commentators have also suggested that special advisers under New Labour have increased their leverage in pushing through ministerial directives and have a greater role in advising ministers about feasible policy options (Dorey, 2005, p 8). The four Home Secretaries in this study have all employed special advisers with expertise in immigration policy.

Furthermore, interviewees all referred to at least one senior politician as having an impact on migration policy. Interviewees generally saw actions taken by politicians as having a direct, causal impact on policy, although this may reflect the complexity of the policy process, even for those intimately involved in it.

‘Trigger’ events

Senior politicians must be well attuned to changes in society to exercise leadership effectively and last in their positions. The events of 2001 were discussed in the previous chapter (in terms of the impact on the Home Office agenda), but a larger number of events was picked up in the interviews. Interviewees commonly cited the Sangatte ‘crisis’; 9/11; the 2001 riots; the accession of 10 countries to the European Union in May 2004; the terrorist attacks of 7 July 2005 (and the two subsequent bomb plots – a month later and then a year later, in August 2006);