Another Ministerial foot in mouth

Cross-posted from LGBT asylum news.



In an article about how the UK government 'challenges' the homophobic administration in Kingston Jamaica, UK foreign affairs (DFID) minister Gareth Thomas said the following about LGBT asylum seekers from that country.

"Every case has to be looked at on its own merits. You need to unpick the details of what was alleged to have happened." [Our emphasis]

The article in pinknews.co.uk points out that Thomas has directly challenged Jamaican homophobia, specifically and correctly citing it as an issue in fighting HIV.

But it also inadvertently cites the disconnect at the heart of the attitude to LGBT asylum seekers in the UK's government:

Asylum of course is a Home Office matter - DFID's work tends on the whole to be more positive.

In other words, as we have always said, the Home Office says one thing and the Foreign Office another.