A former Home Office chief accused of resisting key Conservative policies while in charge of asylum is joining a charity that has said the Government’s policies are “inhumane, racist and divisive”.
Emma Haddad, who was the Home Office’s director general for asylum until October 2022, will help to oversee Amnesty International UK, which has been campaigning against the Government’s attempts to halt Channel crossings and deport migrants to Rwanda.
Ms Haddad’s appointment will intensify tensions between Conservative ministers and senior officials. A senior Tory said: “This demonstrates the extent of the institutional hurdles that we have been up against.”
One source described Ms Haddad as “very difficult” and the “chief blocker” of ministers’ policies during her time at the Home Office. A Home Office source claimed that, during her time at the top of the department, the senior civil servant was “hostile” to the Government’s agenda on asylum, including a plan to move migrants out of taxpayer-funded hotel rooms and into large-scale accommodation.
Read more: Van-Tam Syndrome: Home Office’s ex-asylum boss joins pro-migrant charity
