Here's a video of Theresa May explaining how she didn't get the timing of the arrest of Qatada wrong yesterday. It's a clever answer...
How so?
Because she gives herself two options. If the appeal is deemed to be outside the timeframe, then she can say The Home Office was right all along.
If the decision is made to hear the appeal she can argue that this has been done at the discretion of the court and no mistake was made.
It neutralises the possibility that she can be blamed for any mistake - which as @paulwaugh pointed out yesterday, seems a likely scenario.
Quite clever really.
But still not a safe pair of hands.
Its nothing to do with the timing of the arrest. The question is whether the appeal was lodged within three months of the judgment having been made.
ReplyDeleteAnon - I think you're quite right on this in terms of the deportation per se; but i think if Qatada can prove a case for wrongful arrest (or claim he has a case) then he may be able to delay things. Or something like that anyway :-)
ReplyDeleteBut anyway - I think the issue everyone is getting so het up about is actually competence - the timing of the arrest was very deliberate, so did they make a mistake? Even if it has no net effect on the outcome.