Lord Dubs: Jenrick order to paint over kids’ Disney mural in asylum centre a disgrace

A senior peer who came to Britain as a child refugee after fleeing the Nazis has been praised for his outspoken criticism of minister Robert Jenrick after he had ordered the painting over pictures of cartoons and animals at an asylum reception centre to ensure children did not feel welcomed.

Lord Alf Dubs, one of 669 children who escaped the Holocaust on a Kindertransport train from Prague organised by British stockbroker Sir Nicholas Winton, described immigration minister Robert Jenrick’s order to paint over the mural as “shocking.”

Speaking in the Lords he said: “The minister has just said that the Government take the welfare of unaccompanied children seriously. How does that relate to the arrivals centre in Dover, which had cartoons and welcoming signs for children removed on the orders of the Home Office Minister because it might make the children feel too welcome? Is that not a disgrace?

“Is it not time that Government Back-Benchers felt as embarrassed as we are that this is happening in our country?”

Tory peer Lord Murray of Blidworth replied: “The murals that the noble Lord refers to were provided by our detention contractors and were not commissioned or approved by the Home Office. It is clearly the correct decision that these facilities have the requisite decoration befitting their purpose.”

Lord Dubs, who fled the persecution of Jews in Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia in 1939, had arrived in the UK as a six-year-old refugee, had asked minister Lord Murray to explain the removal of murals on the grounds they were “too welcoming for children”.

Dubs later tweeted he thanks to those who had praised him for highlighting the decision to paint over the mural.

He wrote:”Something has shifted in the public mood regarding refugees. “I’ve been tweeting about refugees for many years but never before received such an upswell of sympathy, and near universal condemnation of the government’s callous approach.”

The pictures of Mickey and Minnie Mouse, as well as cartoon favourites Tom and Jerry, were removed from the wall last week at the facility in Dover, Kent on the orders of Jenrick.

Another Conservative peer, Lord Cormack, lashed out at the Government’s actions, saying: “This incident of the painting out of murals designed only to amuse unaccompanied children sends out a message that frankly is not worthy of our country.”

Labour frontbencher Lord Coaker said he had seen the murals at the facility during an official visit.He said: “There was nothing offensive about it. All it did was provide comfort and a sense of belonging to children in a desperate situation. That’s presumably why somebody painted it. They didn’t paint it out of badness. It was… an act of kindness.”

The government has pledged to stop overcrowded dinghies making the journey from northern France to the UK.

Rishi Sunak’s immigration bill was heavily criticised in the Lords on Tuesday. Theresa May and Tim Loughton were among more than a dozen backbench Tories seeking further changes to the legislation.

The Home Office offered several concessions on Monday evening, including on time limits for the detention of children and pregnant women.

MPs overturned amendments in a succession of votes on Tuesday. The bill now goes back to the Lords, before returning again to the Commons next week.