Ted Cassidy MBE

Labour Councillor for Saffron Ward Leicester. Former Lord Mayor of Leicester. Leicester City FC supporter. All views my own

[Ted Cassidy MBE @TedCSaffron]

@KaJuror Get well soon, Barry 🙏 Ted

[Mark Kieran - Democracy Activist @MarkKieranUK]

WARNING: THREAD CONTAINS GRAPHIC LANGUAGE

🧵 What a morally vacuous, embarrassingly incompetent monster Suella Braverman is.

Having worked at the Home Office deciding asylum applications, I know the 1951 Refugee Convention's terms are far clearer than her pernicious propaganda would suggest.

She says many asylum seekers base their claims on “feeling” discriminated against in their home countries. But the scope of the Convention is limited to people who believe they have a “well-founded fear of persecution” for some specific reasons. Those reasons are race, nationality, religion, membership of a particular social group or political opinion. Mere feelings of discrimination would not meet that rigorous test, and any application made on those grounds would (rightly) be fast-tracked for refusal.

She suggests that persecution, by definition, must involve a threat to life. Not true. Persecution often DOES involve a threat to life, but other things can qualify as persecution (arbitrary detention, unjustified confiscation of assets, withdrawal of state protection from crime). Braverman knows this, but the boneheads whose votes she is soliciting do not, so hey, why not spin the line?

In my time at the Home Office, I refused many asylum applications which, on the evidence presented, clearly did not meet the test of a well-founded fear of persecution on Convention grounds. The majority of those applications were made by people (mostly young men) who appeared to be seeking better economic futures for themselves and their families. That's completely understandable, and I never blamed them for trying, but it's not grounds for asylum, so neither did I feel any guilt in refusing them…that's not the purpose of the asylum system.

But I did grant asylum to a number of people who had clearly faced unimaginable horror in their own countries before escaping to the UK, where they felt safe and where they believed they would be able to live the rest of their lives in peace.

There was the Sikh activist who had a kettle of boiling water poured over him during a police interrogation. There was the woman from a minority Muslim sect who, when her husband died, and her neighbours started throwing stones through her windows at night, sought the protection of the local police only to be publicly ridiculed and then gang-raped by six officers in front of her three young children. There were the young Tamil men forced to inhale the fumes of burnt chilli powder by Sri Lankan police. Others hung upside-down and beaten for days until they confessed to crimes they played no part in. And many, many more with genuine, provable experiences just as gruesome.

Nearly thirty years on, I can still recall the faces of those people as they recounted their experiences to me during interviews and the tears in the eyes of the interpreters as they translated words no one should ever have to hear.

Since my days in the Home Office, I can’t recall a single Home Secretary who hasn’t had to wrestle one way or another with the asylum system. But neither can I recall one who has approached the task with as little humanity in their heart as Braverman. Truly, she is in a league of her own.

I simply don’t believe the majority of people in this country support the cruel policies that Braverman embraces so enthusiastically. As I listen to her today, my sincerest hope is that when Open Britain and our partners finally deliver a functional democracy in this country, monsters like her will never again be able to game their way into high office and abuse the power they find there.

This is our fight.

If you've read this far, please consider giving this a retweet and following me, @OpenBritainHQ and @StopTheRot_UK so you can be part of this positive change. Thank you.

[Rory Palmer @Rory_Palmer]

Proud to be Labour & @CoopParty candidate for next year’s Police & Crime Commissioner election.
Lots of good conversations out on the doors this evening.

[Melissa March 🌹 @melissamarch]

We need someone to bring back credibility, trust & leadership to the role of Police & Crime Commissioner in Leicester, Leicestershire & Rutland after the shambles of the current Tory - I’ll be backing #Rory4PCC https://t.co/dVz0UtWpzt

[Ted Cassidy MBE @TedCSaffron]

@MonsurZaman @cllr_waddington Best wishes for tomorrow to Sue Waddington @cllr_waddington and Syed @MonsurZaman Labour candidates in Fosse, my old Ward.

[Rory Palmer @Rory_Palmer]

Extraordinary.

Tory candidate for Leicester Mayor doesn’t take part in Leicester Mercury or @BBCLeicester hustings.

Scared of having to answer for 13 years of Tory economic mismanagement, public service cuts and mortgage increases.

#VoteLabour

https://t.co/kogYSsPIv0

[Syed Monsur Zaman @MonsurZaman]

Remember to #vote for #Labour on Thursday 4th May for the #LocalElections2023 #Elections2023 #fosse #Leicester #LeicesterCity

#

[Ted Cassidy MBE @TedCSaffron]

Vote Ted Cassidy and Elly Cutkelvin for Saffron Ward and Peter Soulsby for City Mayor

[Ted Cassidy MBE @TedCSaffron]

Vote Ted Cassidy and Elly Cutkelvin for Saffron Ward and Peter Soulsby for City Mayor

[The Labour Party @UKLabour]

Building a better Britain starts today.

Return your postal vote for Labour.

[The Labour Party @UKLabour]

The Labour Party wishes a happy and healthy Eid al-Fitr to all Muslims celebrating in the UK and around the world.

From all of us at the Labour Party, #EidMubarak.

[Leicester City Council @Leicester_News]

Voters have less than a week to check they have the right photo ID for May’s #LocalElections.

Read more here: https://t.co/zuV9cLeG1o

[Ted Cassidy MBE @TedCSaffron]

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[Ted Cassidy MBE @TedCSaffron]

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[Rebecca Pawley @rebecca_pawley]

I am delighted to announce that I am standing as @UKLabour candidate for #Aylestone in the upcoming local elections. Incredibly proud to be standing in the ward where my late Dad grew up in #labourdoorstep #LocalElections2023

[Ted Cassidy MBE @TedCSaffron]

2 people followed me and 2 people unfollowed me // automatically checked by https://t.co/uVhSY7jdnf

[Elaine Pantling Labour Cllr EME @laurielorry]

So pleased to be standing in the Ward of Eyres Monsell #UKLabour 🌹#LeicesterLabour 🌹#EyresMonsellMatters

[Melissa March 🌹 @melissamarch]

Great to have you with us, @LeeDHolmes8 💪🌹!