LETTER TO THE EDITOR: What would MP Alex do with Jesus today?

He talks about being a Christian and how as a Christian country we should all be forgiving Boris Johnson for his crimes. What Stafford is implying is that if Johnson is forgiven, he is then free of further consequence. However, if we were to follow Stafford’s logic to its conclusion, we should also be forgiving all criminals and excusing them of all consequence as well. Our courts would be silent, and our prisons would be empty, and the victims and their families would be living in fear and heartbroken.

In his next breath, Stafford went on to support the sending of asylum seekers to Rwanda for processing, an idea which has echoes of 1940s Europe. Stafford, in his ignorance, is supporting a policy that has been roundly condemned by church leaders, including his own. It’s a stretch, but if Stafford were to read his Bible he would see that many of its key characters were immigrants and asylum seekers. Starting with Adam and Eve who were thrown out of their home, the list includes Abraham, Joseph, Jacob, Moses, Jonah, Daniel, Nehemiah, and even Jesus. While the Bible suggests that not all of these had an easy time, it is very clear on how it expects them to be treated.

It does make me wonder what Stafford would say if Jesus, the brown skinned illegitimate child of Palestinian asylum seekers, turned up in Dover today. Would he be packed off to an uncertain future in Rwanda? Would his rescuers be prosecuted? Would he be treated with the disdain that Stafford and his Government is showing others?

J Clarke, Rotherham