Politicians are jittery after the Syrian refugee crisis – but the situation in Afghanistan is very different

The aim this time will be to keep the crisis as far from EU borders as possible – there is less for UK politicians to fret about than they think, writes Andrew Grice

In politicians’ minds, asylum and immigration are merged into one (Iranian Red Crescent/AFP)

During the 2016 referendum, Nigel Farage unveiled his infamous “breaking point” poster showing a line of refugees trying to get into Europe to escape the civil war in Syria. That migration crisis was in the minds of UK and EU politicians this week as they wondered anxiously whether history would repeat itself in Afghanistan.

Although the poster was condemned by the official Vote Leave campaign led by Boris Johnson, it was quite happy to play the immigration card. It was shameless but it worked. Johnson and his allies drew a lesson: they would never be outflanked on the right.

This helps explain why the government is allowing only 5,000 Afghans to come to Britain in the first year, with a total of 20,000 over an unspecified long term. In the politicians’ minds, asylum and immigration are merged into one. They sometimes argue that is because it is how the public views the two separate issues. Although it is the job of politicians to lead rather than follow, Johnson and his ministers have made little effort to do so on this front.