{"id":351037,"date":"2025-08-17T06:36:13","date_gmt":"2025-08-17T06:36:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/351037\/"},"modified":"2025-08-17T06:36:13","modified_gmt":"2025-08-17T06:36:13","slug":"leaked-messages-reveal-internal-tory-row-over-asylum-perks-tweet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/351037\/","title":{"rendered":"Leaked messages reveal internal Tory row over asylum perks tweet"},"content":{"rendered":"

The latest Conservative attempts to pin the blame for asylum freebies on Labour have instead sparked a bout of Tory infighting.<\/p>\n

Leaked messages from the all Tory MP WhatsApp group revealed private anger after the official Conservatives X account posted<\/a>:<\/p>\n

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REVEALED: The huge list of freebies and perks channel migrants are entitled to once they land in Britain.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Rachel Reeves is taxing you for every last penny.<\/p>\n

The Conservatives are the only Party with a plan to stop this madness. pic.twitter.com\/X1Bpa7NTZX<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Conservatives (@Conservatives) August 13, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Within hours one MP said the perks \u201chave our fingerprints all over them\u201d and branded CCHQ\u2019s communications \u201cpiss-poor\u201d, while another claimed the tweet made the party \u201clook silly\u201d.<\/p>\n

Party chairman Kevin Hollinrake admitted migration failures and that he had spoken to Tory staff about the post, but said it wouldn\u2019t be taken down.<\/p>\n

Lewis Cocking, the new MP for Broxbourne, wrote bluntly: \u201cThis makes us look silly as we gave them all this too which is why we are in the mess we are in today. Completely unacceptable \u2013 they should be put in detention centres and deported.\u201d<\/p>\n

It prompted a series of shadow ministers to signal their support, with Alicia Kearns, Andrew Rosindell and Paul Holmes, all responding with a thumbs up emoji.<\/p>\n

Mr Hollinrake replied: \u201cAgreed. Do message me directly with anything [sic] other ads of concern.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ben Obese-Jecty, another 2024 intake MP, piled in by sharing Nigel Farage\u2019s gleeful repost<\/a> of the Tory graphic \u2013 \u201cthey should be in hiding\u201d \u2013 and added drily, \u201cas predicted.\u201d For Tory MPs nervously eyeing Reform\u2019s polling, the episode is further proof that muddled messaging risks strengthening their rival rather than weakening Labour.<\/p>\n

Cocking, pushing for the original post to be taken down, pointed out why it\u2019s especially toxic: \u201cWell I did say and no one seems to listen. I have an asylum hotel and the community is ripping itself apart and it\u2019s okay for everyone that doesn\u2019t. We did this and we must come up with a policy that solves it.\u201d Rosindell, along with fellow 2024 intake MP Peter Bedford, liked the message.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

But the party chairman claimed it would be \u201ccounterproductive\u201d to remove the post, although he had \u201cspoken to the team about it\u201d and accepted that the message should have been better framed.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a fine line really,\u201d he told colleagues, \u201cas we\u2019re saying that we\u2019d do stuff now that we didn\u2019t do before on the basis of \u2018under new leadership\u2019\u201d.<\/p>\n

Obese-Jecty pointed out the obvious flaw: many of the policies being attacked were introduced and maintained under Conservative governments \u2013 and still the party has not pledged to scrap housing and food provision, ASPEN cards and access to food banks.<\/p>\n

\u201cMost of those perks are ridiculous but some of them have been in place for years and have our fingerprints all over them, so why are we trying to pin them on Labour who can easily point that out?\u201d he asked. \u201cWhy would anyone believe we\u2019d scrap them now unless we explicitly state how we would?\u201d<\/p>\n

There was some agreement though, over the post not being deleted retrospectively \u2013 but only in the sense that it is symptomatic of a bigger problem. \u201cI agree that the tweet can\u2019t be removed, that dinghy has sailed, but it\u2019s yet another example of piss-poor comms from CCHQ that cause unnecessary media embarrassment. This isn\u2019t the first time it\u2019s been raised,\u201d Obese-Jecty added.<\/p>\n

Hollinrake\u2019s intervention to CCHQ and attempts to calm tempers suggests an acknowledgement that the party\u2019s attack lines on asylum will have to be re-written \u2013 not least because so many of the policies they are attacking can be traced back to successive Tory governments.<\/p>\n

But the exchange reveals just how fraught the debate has become inside the party. MPs in seats hosting asylum hotels feel the pressure most acutely, and want actual pledges on detention and deportation. Others fear the credibility gap: after 14 years in power, can the Tories really re-brand as the party to end asylum perks?<\/p>\n

This is the dilemma Badenoch\u2019s party is struggling to resolve. Every tough line risks being undercut by the fact of the Conservatives own government policies. Every vague slogan is mocked by Farage as evidence that the Tories aren\u2019t serious.<\/p>\n

A Conservative spokesman told ConservativeHome: \u201cKemi Badenoch has been clear that under her leadership this is a changed Conservative Party.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe has set out where we failed on immigration, and delivered bold new plans to set it right including our Deportation Bill which would take back control of our borders.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will continue to hold Labour to account for their total failure to tackle the small boats crisis.\u201d<\/p>\n

The problem is that what began as a routine piece of attack-line comms on Labour has ended up exposing a deeper truth: the Conservatives\u2019 migration problem isn\u2019t Labour alone, it\u2019s themselves \u2013 and Reform is waiting in the wings to exploit it. It is a difficult pairing to acknowledge: a difficult record and a focus on the fresh start under \u201cnew leadership\u201d, but it is one that LOTO desperately needs to figure out. Even their own MPs agree.<\/p>\n

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