One of the fascinating things about following an election campaign is that incidents (or what the media refers to as gaffes) often throw a new light on a party's policies. Tory candidate Ed Matts' doctoring of a photo of himself protesting against the deportation of a family of asylum seekers is a case in point.
The Tory candidate has apologised for altering the image to show him campaigning for tougher immigration controls but denies being hypocritical.
He insists:
"Being involved in an individual asylum case is not inconsistent with the Conservative view that Britain's asylum system is in urgent need of attention."
Is that really a credible claim? The Tories want to set an annual maximum limit on the number of people allowed to settle in Britain, including asylum seekers. Asylum claims would not merely be judged on their individual merits but also on where they stand in a queue of applications.
Mr Matts' desire to associate his election campaign with a popular family facing deportation is therefore surely at odds with the belief that asylum seekers should be treated as a group not as individuals. Under the Tories' plans the Kachepa family might never have been allowed into the country.
What do you think?
