The dog house

The attorney general Baroness Scotland is in hot water for allegedly employing an illegal immigrant as a cleaner in her west London home.

Downing Street says that is has ‘full confidence’ in Baroness Scotland although you do wonder whether she similarly had full confidence that her cleaner was not an illegal immigrant.

Perhaps the unfortunate aspect of the story is that at least Ms Loloahi Tapui was paying tax and NICs as a cleaner whereas her future income might be as a recipient of rather than a contributor to one of the 51 state benefits that the country’s income tax receipts now go to pay.

I did also wonder whether Baroness Scotland had considered the employment status of Ms Tapui when she started work.

The Immigration Asylum and Nationality Act 2006 s 25(b) states that ‘a reference...