Theresa May’s cat.
October 5, 2011
The Tories are showing their ugly side at conference this week. They want to allow the unfair dismissal of employees and to abolish the Human Rights Act.
I am not sure if it is better or worse for the fact that they justify policy on the basis of a false story about a cat.
See the BBC clip where Theresa May claims that a man could not be deported because of a cat.
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According to a story by the PA in 2009 a Bolivian man who came to the UK as a student cited cat ownership as one of the “many details” to prove the long term nature of his relationship with his girlfriend – as part of his legal battle to stay in the country.
His solicitor Barry O’Leary however, insisted that his client had “never” argued that he should be allowed to stay on the grounds of the cat. And the decision to allow him to stay wasn’t granted on that basis either.
Mr O’Leary said: “We were never arguing on the basis that the cat was material. We argued that there is a Home Office policy they should have applied in this case because of the long term nature of the couple’s relationship.
“The immigration judge found that was the reason the appeal should be allowed.”
Giving her judgment against the Home Office appeal, senior immigration judge Judith Gleeson joked that the cat “need no longer fear having to adapt to Bolivian mice”.
A spokesperson for the Judicial Office said: “This was a case in which the Home Office conceded that they had mistakenly failed to apply their own policy – applying at that time to that appellant – for dealing with unmarried partners of people settled in the UK.
“That was the basis for the decision to uphold the original tribunal decision – the cat had nothing to do with the decision.”