A spokesperson for Robert Jenrick said he would provide a statement ‘in due course’. The former Conservative immigration minister has been rebuked by the chair of an inquiry for failing to provide vital evidence about conditions for small boat arrivals at a controversial processing centre.
Manston Inquiry Background
The independent Manston inquiry was established to examine events surrounding the detention of thousands of people who arrived by small boat between 1 June 2022 and 22 November 2022 at a former military base in Manston, Kent. The Reform Treasury spokesperson was the Tory immigration minister when conditions at the base deteriorated.
An asylum seeker, Hussein Haseeb Ahmed, fell ill with diphtheria at the site and later died from complications in hospital. The Manston site opened at the beginning of 2022, a year when a record of about 46,000 people arrived in the UK by small boats. Designed to hold a maximum of 1,600 people for periods of 24 hours or less, the site housed 4,000 people at its busiest after failures to move detainees.
Conditions at Manston
Conditions were squalid, with faeces overflowing from toilets and people forced to sleep on the floor for extended periods. Major outbreaks of disease, including scabies and diphtheria, occurred. Jenrick admitted to parliament that people were kept at Manston longer than he would have liked. After the then independent chief inspector of Borders and Immigration David Neal visited in October 2022, he told MPs conditions were “wretched” and “really dangerous”.
In July 2023, Jenrick ordered brightly coloured children’s murals at Manston and another Kent processing centre, Western Jet Foil, to be painted over because they were deemed “too welcoming” for children.
Inquiry Issues and Rebuke
Issues investigated include policy decisions ministers made about Manston and actions taken to mitigate poor conditions. The inquiry also investigates circumstances surrounding Ahmed’s death on 19 November 2022. Inquiry chair Sophie Cartwright KC said in a statement: “These issues raise questions for former government ministers including the Rt Hon Mr Jenrick MP.”
The inquiry first wrote to Jenrick on 17 October 2025 seeking a draft statement, agreeing to several extensions. On 27 April 2026, the inquiry wrote to Jenrick’s legal representatives confirming the deadline had passed and seeking clarification. “As at the date of this update, the inquiry has not received a statement nor any update,” Cartwright said. “The inquiry is non-statutory and so relies on cooperation.”
“Many months have passed without any certainty as to whether or when he will provide a statement,” she added.
Legal Challenge and Criticism
A mass legal challenge was launched regarding Manston conditions at the end of 2022. Seema Syeda of the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants condemned Jenrick: “As former Minister for Immigration, Robert Jenrick was at the head of a Victorian-era system responsible for the cruel detention and death from diphtheria of Hussein Haseeb Ahmed. He showed no accountability and now seeks to return to government, shapeshifting from Tory to Reform, but bringing the same inhumane record.”
A spokesperson for Jenrick from Reform UK said: “Robert’s written statement will be with the inquiry in due course. It is telling that Labour commissioned an inquiry into the detention of illegal migrants, and not into the daily harm illegal migration is inflicting on the British people.”
