Welcome to Britain (1976) - full transcript

(Man) They don't like
my coming over here.

I've come over here
as a visitor.

For about three weeks.

I've got my parents over here.

I've got my brothers over here,
sisters over here.

And what happened exactly?

What happened when you got
to Heathrow Airport?

They've only one attitude.

They're not interested
in people coming over here,

whether as a visitor
or as an immigrant

or as any damn thing.



If they wanted me to be
a visitor over here

like I requested them,

I've got enough
of friends to prove

that I am a genuine visitor
over here.

I've got a brother
who is here for last about...

seven to eight years.

I'd never seen him.
I left him as a baby over here.

And there I am now over here,
I just can't meet him.

I can't see my house
where my people live.

I exercise the benefit
of the doubt

more than any other minister
that we've ever had

in charge of immigration.

But if we did it
in every single case

there wouldn't be
immigration control.



Anybody could come in.

Now, the fact
of the matter is

that there's a serious pressure

to come and settle
in this country

from certain areas
of the Commonwealth.

It's irrefutable.

If... When I was in Bangladesh
at the beginning of the year,

I went into one village

and I said to the men
in the village,

"How many people here
would like

"to come and live in England?"

He said, "The whole village."

The fact of the matter is
there is a substantial pressure

and we cannot take them all,

and therefore a control system
has to be applied.

Now, once you get to that stage,

there are difficult problems
when you get to the borderline.

There are some cases
that are absolutely plain.

But there are some cases
when you're on the borderline.

You're not absolutely sure
one way or the other.

And we do exercise
the benefit of the doubt

in a great many cases,

and sometimes
we make mistakes.

That has to be the case
in any human system.

Now, what I am anxious to do is
to limit the number of mistakes

and particularly to limit
any kind of suggestion

that the motivation is wrong,

that it should be racialist
or restrictive

or in some other way seeking
to frustrate the rights

of those who have to come.

Can I speak to extension 2-6...

You're the Home Office,
aren't you?

(Woman) 'That's right.'

2-6-2-2.

'Right.'

(Man) '2-6-2-2?'

- Mr Potts?
- 'Speaking.'

Mr Potts, good morning.
Mr Davis.

'Mr Davis, yes?'

You got a minute to spare?

'Not really, no.
I'm very busy, I'm afraid.'

You're very busy?

'I'm going to put you onto
the telephone enquiry bureau...'

No, no, no, no, no!
This is very important,

- and before I...
- 'I'm very sorry, Mr Davis,

'but if you want to ask me
a question,

'I suggest that you ring
the telephone enquiry line...'

But this concerns you...

This concerns you
and a letter you wrote to me.

'I'm sure it does concern me,

'but I just do not have time
to deal with it at the moment,

'and I suggest you ring
the telephone enquiry...'

Mr Potts, I suggest you change
your name to Mr Schmuck.

That's what I suggest.

'You do that,
Mr Reuben Davis.'

(Click)

That's it.

Mr Potts. You know him?

(Woman) 'He's one of the...

'um... officers in one of our
case-working groups, I think.'

Yeah, well, Mr Potts
refused to vary her leave.

'Mm-hm?'

And to give her
a right of abode.

'Mm.'

And the next thing I have here,
I wrote again,

because I thought
he must have made a mistake.

Now, this old lady,
she can't have any children.

She's 68 years of age.
She can't breed any kids.

You should give her
a bit of rest and peace.

'Mm.'

And I've got this letter
from him.

'Mm?'

"Dear sir,
re. Mrs Eleni Charalambous.

"I refer to the appeal
made by the above name

"against the Secretary
of State's decision

"to refuse her request
to be allowed

"to remain permanently
in the United Kingdom.

"Taking all the facts
into consideration,

"it has been decided
to maintain the refusal."

Now, I'm sure that
the Secretary of State

has personally...

if he was personally involved,
he would go mad.

I know that because I know
he's a man of compassion,

and I know he wouldn't treat
the widows of British soldiers

like this in this manner.

But I'm sure... Mr Potts, I
don't know why he refused this.

Now, could I take it
to somebody else?

Because if it goes
to an appeal court,

you'll be the laughing stock
of everybody.

It'll be disgraceful, inhumane,

and the British people
are not inhumane.

Your mother has the right
to have abode in this country.

Yes?

But unfortunately
in the Home Office

they have a lot
of young boys and girls

- working there...
- (Barber) Yes?

...who don't know
the difference

between arsehole time
and breakfast time.

They make decisions on behalf
of the Secretary of State.

The Secretary of State,
he doesn't know what's going on.

I'm sure the Home Secretary,
he knows about this case,

or the Minister, Mr Alex Lyon,

he'll have no difficulty.

At the moment
we're waiting for an appeal.

We have the right of appeal,

and when the appeal comes,
then we'll see.

Yes.

Before she came here,
where was she?

She was used to live in the
camp, in the tent, you know?

And, er...

(Mr Davis) That's why
the Home Office

didn't want to send her back
in the tent.

(Barber laughs)

Not going to have an abortion,
is she, or anything?

Not going to have a baby,
is she?

No, no, no.

Jesus.

(Mr Davis) That's why
they send them back, you see.

Send young girls back

or women back who are
gonna have abortions,

- free medical treatment.
- Nice.

She's almost 70 now,
you know.

Well, they're mad up there.

They're mad
up in the Home Office.

Stark raving mad.

Old lady, she wants somebody
to look after her, you know?

Peace and quiet.

Is she a good cook?

Er, in my... yes.
Is very good cook.

All right, then.
I'm looking for a good cook.

So even if I marry her myself,
she'll stay in the country.

All right, then, Mr Davis.

- All right?
- Thank you very much.

So you'll be... What will you
be? You won't be my father.

You'll be my uncle,
won't you, or something?

All right. Bye-bye, anyway.

- Bye-bye. Adio.
- Adio.

Adio. Bye.

Thank you very much.
Bye-bye, Mr Davis.

(They murmur)

(Woman murmurs)

OK, thank you.

(Speaks Italian)

Bye-bye. Thank you.

(Mr Davis)
Yeah, are you the CIO?

I have... My name is Mr Davis,
Reuben Davis.

And I have some
very distressed people

in my office at the moment.

It appears that they have
their little sister...

She came here last night.
Only a child of 14.

And you've locked her up.

I'd like to know
what it's all about.

Well, I've made
the arrangements today.

I'm making arrangements now,

and I'm getting her into
the Cambridge School of English.

Yes.

Yes, I will, but I don't
want this child detained.

She's only a baby. You can't
lock up young kids of 14.

I can't dictate to you?
No, I'm not dictating to you.

It's... But it's inhumane,
what you're doing.

A young child of 14 years
of age came alone

and you just lock her up.

Surely, you have the power
to release her

in the custody of her sister?

And please can we see her,
Mr Davis?

(Mr Davis) Well, why don't
you wish to exercise it?

Where is she at the moment?

In Harmondsworth Detention...
A young girl on her own?

With all those different people
in here in Harmondsworth?

What's that?
For people coming on holidays?

Is that what it's for?

And that's where she...
You sound... you...

Excuse me if I may say so,

are you a Pakistani
immigration officer?

You sound as if you've got
a foreign accent.

I can't hear you very well.

Can't understand you.

I'm not being abusive at all.

I know you've got
Mr Chirin Gheling there

as an immigration officer.

And Mr Gomez.

Yes, because it does matter,

because English people
won't take a young girl of 14

and lock her up,

and that's why I'm asking you.

And you are the people...

You are the people
that turn round to Amin

and tell Amin
what a bastard he is

for letting...
not letting British...

You're the type of people...

I think I'll have to talk to
the Chief Immigration Officer.

We'll get her out.

We will get her out.

All right, now,
we phone the Home Office.

I'm gonna phone
the Home Office now

and I'll speak to the guy
at the Home Office.

- Morte.
- (Woman) 'Maude?'

Yes, please.
Alex Lyon's secretary.

'Oh, Mr Moore.'

Could you please get
this child released?

(Man) 'I'll have to ask
for more details, Mr Davis.

'Does she come from Cyprus?'

She's from Cyprus,

and she's in the Turkish sector
of Cyprus...

'Yeah?'

...and she came... Her sister's
here with me at the moment.

'Yeah.

'I'll certainly make enquiries
about this girl's situation

'because of her age.

'But other than that
I cannot say.'

- I've never met you.
- 'Yeah.'

I'll say this
about your governor.

He's a decent feller
and he's a nice chap.

I wouldn't like to change
my opinion about him.

I want to keep the same opinion.

'Yes, so, if you can assure
the girl's sister

'that we are considering the
case urgently on her behalf.'

Yeah, I wouldn't like her
to spend another night

in that place.

'No, of course not.
We are considering it now.'

Good. I won't phone you
no more.

Have a nice weekend and
I won't bother you anymore.

And thank you.
I'm grateful to you.

- 'My pleasure. Bye.'
- Bye-bye.

Well, OK.
They're going to act. Today.

And they are looking
into the matter right away.

I wouldn't be surprised
if she'll be out tonight.

I hope so.

(Tannoy announcement)

Excuse me.

They can take her,
they can undress her,

and examine her private parts,

under the law,

for... they call it... they can
photograph her, measure her...

...and they can examine
her private parts

for the purposes
of identification.

- Did you know that?
- No, I didn't.

Well, this is the law.

This is disgusting.

Yeah, well, that's what
I call it, disgusting,

but they can do.

And Securicor employees

may also be authorised
by the Home Secretary

to do these things.

They can also do it.

So, any man there,
if he wants to examine her,

and he's a Securicor guard,

he can under the law
take this young girl

undress her, strip her,

and examine her private parts
if he wants to.

Did any of this happen to her?

(Speaks foreign language)

- No.
- No.

She wasn't?
Well, thank God for that.

How long you been working here?

Half past three.

Half past... Pardon?

Half past three.
Half past three.

No, how many years
have you been here working?

Half past three years.

You mean
three and a half years?

Yeah.

And when you came here,
then what happened?

I understand now that the
police came and picked you up.

Yeah.

And what did they do to you?

They arrested both of them here?

Your wife was working
here as well?

Yeah. She is deported.

- Pardon?
- She is deported.

They deported the wife?

And what about you?

They told you
you can have an appeal?

- Yeah.
- And you have an appeal now.

It took me a year to break him
in to use this certain machine.

You understand?
One whole year.

We spent a lot of time
with him,

overtime and Saturdays to break
him in to work this machine.

- He's a nice type of chap, too.
- Gentleman.

(Mr Davis) How did I get
into this business?

Well, I used to be
a personnel director

for a large export group...

in the clothing industry,

I've always been interested
in the clothing industry.

Every factory would be about...

The machines would be 40
per cent idle in every factory

because of the shortage
of workers.

So, I went abroad and
I managed to contact 100 girls

who had come to this country
for two years on a contract

earning about 35,
40 pound a week.

I came back to this country,

I went to the Department
of Employment

and I asked them
for work permits

for the applicants.

The Department of Employment
said, "Sorry, Mr Davis,

"we can't give you
work permits,

"because there are half
a million people unemployed."

I said, "Goody-goody,

"if there's a half a million
people unemployed,

"that's what we want.

"Give us 1,000 machinists,

"British workers first,

"and we will employ them
immediately.

"They'll all be working
within 24 hours."

They said,
"I'm sorry, Mr Davis,

"but there are
no machinists unemployed."

So, I said to them,

"Well, can I have work permits
for these people coming in?"

They said, "No, Mr Davis,

"you can't have work permits
for these people,

"because there's a half
a million people unemployed."

They said, "Mr Davis,
would you mind trainees?"

I said, "Yes, I don't mind
taking Jack the Ripper's sister,

"as long as she can
use a machine."

So they sent me along
to the trainees' department

to see if I could get
some trainees

and I had a letter
from the trainees' department

saying, "I'm sorry, Mr Davis,

"young girls today don't want to
go into the clothing industry.

"They want to work in shops.

"They would like to work
in stores

"or they would like
to work in offices."

I came back again
with this letter

to the Department of Employment
and they said to me,

"Mr Davis, if we give you
the work permits,

"the unions will go mad."

So, I went along to the union
and the union...

Here's a letter here from
the National Union of Tailors

and Garment Workers,

and they said, no, Mr Davis,
we will support the application

because if you have
no machinists,

then you don't need finishers,
and you don't need designers,

because they're the mainstay,

machinists are the mainstay
of the business,

and they gave me a letter
supporting the application.

The Department of Employment
then said to me, yes, Mr Davis,

don't worry, we can get
these workers for you.

We've got thousands of Ugandan
Asians coming into the country

and you're sure to get as
many machinists as you can get.

Subsequently, I went down
to four of the camps,

where these girls and
all these Ugandan Asians were,

to see if I could
recruit labour,

and I managed to find one girl
only out of the whole issue.

One girl said she would
come and work for me

if I bought her a house.

So I said, "Listen, my darling,
you buy me a house

"and I'll come
and work for you."

I came back, I went along
to the Department of Employment

and I said, "Department of
Employment, what shall I do?"

And they gave me
a wonderful answer.

They said to me, "Mr Davis,

"the best thing to do is
don't take export orders."

Now, this man must
have been a genius,

because I understand that
he's been promoted since then.

Are you married?

No.

Are you engaged to be married?

Yeah.

And why don't you get married
if you're engaged to be married?

And if you get married
you'll be able to stay here

under the new ruling
by the Home Secretary.

Yeah.
That's a good idea.

It's a good... Well, if
you're engaged to the girl...

- Yeah.
- ...you're gonna marry her.

You don't get engaged
unless you marry her.

Exactly.

Or do you get engaged...
Is this a habit with you?

- Always to get engaged?
- No.

And they teach you
to speak English in school?

Yes, I have been to school
in evening classes.

They taught you to say
God save the King?

Yes, sure, I have got.

Used to sing it in school?
Empire days?

Used to have the British flag
and wave it about?

- The Union Jack?
- That's right.

Mr Lyon gave me some
very good news today.

Mr Lyon told me that
he's going to stop me

and put me out of business,

and I can't carry on
my business anymore,

because I charge people
for what I do.

So, I said,
"Well, under the laws,

"you're empowered
to give me a grant.

"So, if you give me the grant,
I won't charge people."

He's gonna instruct them up
there not to answer my letters,

not to talk to me, not to
discuss anything with me.

(Woman) Yes.

So, what do you think
that'll mean for your business?

Nothing at all.

Not a thing.

I said you can't stop me
representing people

if I go up to
the adjudicators' court.

He said, "The adjudicator might
not want to listen to you."

I said... "You're telling me,"
I said, "now...

"...you're telling me
that the adjudicator...

"you have no control
over the adjudicator,

"and now you say the
adjudicators won't listen to me?

"Supposed to be independent,

"and you're telling me
they won't listen to me?

"So, that's your independence?"

I said, "According
to the immigration law,

"the adjudicator must listen
to anybody, any appellant

"or any appellant's
representative

"they wish to appoint.

"That's the law."

"Yes, but they may not
want to listen to you."

I said, "Come on." I said,
"You know it's not independent,

"because next time
I go up there,

"I'm gonna wear
my pith helmet up there.

"You know these colonial
magistrates." I told him that.

- (Woman) What did he say?
- Oh, he smiled.

He knows the score.
He's not a fool.

He knows what it's all about.

He knows I'm absolutely right.
He knows.

Probably that's what
he got the needle about.

If he was so concerned

that we're charging
these immigrants money,

why doesn't he give them
free legal advice?

The same as anybody
can get in the court.

It's easy for him to do that,

to say they can get
legal advice, legal aid.

Won't give them legal aid.

So, what do they have to do?
It's all down to one thing.

They must go to where
he wants them to go

and that is the UKIAS,
that's all there is to it.

(Woman) You reckon there's
a connection between UKIAS...

Course it is.
Any idiot can see that.

UKIAS get a 125,000 grant.

People don't want to go
to the UKIAS.

They can go to anyone they want.

They choose to come to me

because they think
I can do a job much better.

(Lewin) Is that
what you told him?

Well, I said give me a grant.

Well, no, he said UKIAS.

I said it's like me suing you

and sending you to
my solicitor to help you.

(Man speaks in foreign language)

(Woman speaks quietly)

Yeah, I suppose it is.

(Typing)

We will write a letter on
her behalf to the Home Office...

Yes.

...and say that
for family reasons

she would like to stay here
for a year more,

and as I said
to her a year ago

that we are an independent body.

We are not controlled
in our direction of the work

as to how we do.

We are entirely
independent on that.

Though we are
a government-funded body

but we don't take directions
from the Home Office

or from anybody
from the Home Office

how we should do
with our clients.

What advice we give you,
what advice,

the answer is entirely
between us and the clients.

We absolutely were under no
directions from the Home Office

as far as how
our job's concerned.

Is that clear?

Because some people
have got some doubt

that, oh, because we are
a government-funded body,

we are under their thumb.
It is not so.

We are not under their thumb

as far as our duties
are concerned.

- OK?
- Yes.

Now, you have come
well and truly freely to us...

Yes.

...and our service
is free of charge,

we do not charge you a penny.

And because we don't
charge you a penny,

it doesn't mean
it's a cheap service.

It's a specialised service
by itself.

No, this is our speciality.

The immigration
is our speciality.

You've seen your sister,
have you?

(Man) Yes, I just left her.

Well, I've telephoned
Immigration to find out

what the situation is
as far as they see it.

Um... it appears
that the main problem is

that she applied for an entry
certificate last year

and was refused.

Um... she was refused

because they didn't consider
she had especial incentive

to go back to Guyana,
if she came here.

Um... now they say that they
interviewed her all yesterday,

um... and that she wasn't...

well, didn't really give them
all the true details,

and I think they told you
this as well, didn't they?

(Man) Mm-hm, mm-hm.

Yes. I think she must be
a bit confused.

Do you think she is
a bit confused?

Well, I was confused
when I was there

because, you know,
I don't think it's...

It's a catch,
you know what I mean?

They're pumping things
in your head

and they're trying to catch
you, you know what I mean?

It's a test, more or less,
you know?

And they are trying
to tempt you to do this,

and before you know
what you said,

they confuse you
with something else.

It's, you know, it's...
I don't know.

It's more or less they are
putting things in your mouth

and they want... they're hoping
that you will say those things.

Mm.

What do you think her incentive
is to go back to Guyana?

You see, once she comes here
as a visitor,

she is quite entitled to make
an application to stay here

for studies
or for permanent settlement

or for anything else.

So as far as you're concerned...

But this is what they want
to avoid her doing, we think.

So how do you avoid that?

You're guilty before
you prove yourself.

No.

Yes, are, because
they say that, you know,

she want to come here to settle.

(Woman) Well, this is
what they suspect.

Yeah, this is what
they suspect, right?

It's not a suspicion anymore

because it's a fact now,
isn't it?

(Woman) It's not a fact, no.
They suspect.

Well, it's a fact

because they're sending her
back, aren't they?

It's true to say

that Immigration
can refuse people here

permission to enter
the country as a visitor

without definite proof that
they're not genuine visitors.

So, you're guilty
before you're innocent?

I know what
the British Constitution says.

I went to school
in my childhood days

and that's one
of the fundamental rights.

You're innocent
until you're proven guilty.

You know what I mean?

All this detention thing
they have there.

I'd like them to go and spend
some time there themselves,

Just live there
for a day or so,

and see how they like it.

Yes, I know
it's not very pleasant.

Um...

I've been living over here
long enough.

I know a lot of things
and you know I'm not stupid.

But you behave decently
and they try to make you stupid.

Well, the only thing
we can do now,

as she has been refused,

um... if you want to,

she can appeal
against this decision.

Um... but only after
she's been sent back.

What, put her though
all this again?

No. I think they...

(Woman) If I can just explain
what the appeal procedure is.

She will have to lodge
the appeal

within 28 days of her return.

The appeal will...

(Man) And they're gonna
pay for all the passage

and all that, I suppose?

Well, the airline
that brought her here

has to take her back, yes.
She doesn't pay for that.

No, but if you appeal
and you do win,

they have to pay for the passage
and everything else, won't they?

Or you have to spend
all the money all over again?

- And that's justice?
- (Woman) It may well be, yes.

You could take that up with
the Home Office. I don't know.

No, I could take it up

for what they've done to her
since yesterday.

I call it torture.

Mm. Well,
what are you going to do?

What do you want to do?

I can only give you advice.

So ask me questions,
and I'll help you if I can.

I just want to go home
and sleep.

Um... and think it over
so you want to decide...

No, go to sleep. I'm so tired.

Mm, and what about
the appeal from abroad?

Do you want go through
with that or not?

Or haven't you decided?

I don't think... I mean,
you come over here to visit,

and all this argy-bargy
just to visit.

Is it worth it,

visiting a country
under these circumstances?

I don't think it is.

Well, that's for you
to decide.

No, you see, the visit is over.
I mean, that's her visit.

Mm.

Well, I'm trying to find out
whether Miss Rama...

Rama Khan...

- (Man) Shanti Devi.
- Shanti Devi Rama Khan.

She's a girl from Guyana

who came here
from Toronto yesterday.

I'm trying to find out
whether she's gone yet or not.

Well, I think
she's supposed to go at 2:30.

I'm not quite sure really.

To Toronto. Mm.

(Man) I don't mind
if they let her stay for a day.

That'd be all right.

But just to come
and go like this,

it's probably like people like
animals in the zoo, you know,

which are bad
and you send them back.

You know, that's the only way
you can think of it.

You're not human beings
anymore. You're just animals.

No... you know,
it makes me think of Nazism

and all that sort of thing.

(Phone ringing)

(Man) 'Hello?'

Hello. Can I speak to you
about a client

that you have detained
down in the Immigration there?

- 'Who's that speaking, please?'
- Mr Davis.

- 'Mr Reuben Davis?'
- Yes, it is Mr Reuben Davis.

'And what's the name
of your client, Mr Davis?'

Mr Sharif Ali.

'Well, I'm afraid
that I have instructions

'from the Home Office

'to have no further dealings
with you, Mr Davis, and...'

- Can you tell me...
- '...to advise you that, er...

'should you wish your client
to be represented

'then you should advise him
to either represent himself

'or to seek some
further representative.'

Would you advise me, then,

as the Home Office advised you,

to tell me where
these people should go

for representation?

'No, they have not,
but, as I've been advised

'to have no further dealings
with you and...'

Is that what the Home Office
told you,

that you mustn't have
any further dealings with me?

'Goodbye, Mr Davis.'

Can you please tell me why?

(Click)

Just cut me off.

Can't... can't deal
with me anymore.

You see, the Home Office,
I explained to you,

they want to nationalise
my business.

They don't want me to act
on your behalf

because I fight too strongly
for my clients.

So there's not much I can do.

So I advise you now
to go down to the... Dover,

go to Dover now,

and speak to
the Chief Immigration Officer,

tell him that your brother's
not illegally in this country,

he's not,

he has been here legally
with the consent

of the Home Office,

to remain in the country
until the appeal is heard.

Anyway, he's gone back.

He's gone back.

Did you explain to him
about the appeal?

Yes, I did. They don't
want to know anything.

He looked so miserable.

He was hardly talking to us.

(Man) Crying.

Crying all the time,
coming from his eyes.

(Ben Lewin) What about
the immigration officer?

What was his mood?
What was his attitude?

He was very joyful.

He was very joyful
because he's sending him back.

And he was the chief
immigration officer himself.

- (Ben Lewin) Which one?
- The one with the beard.

He is the one
who stamped his passport

to go back

and he called a young chap
inside to interview us,

and he was sitting next to him.

But mostly questions
he was asking.

(Ben Lewin) What was
his attitude to you?

Well... To me?

(Ben Lewin) Yeah.

He look all right, but to him,

they ask him who organise
this press to come here

and he told them
that you organise it.

(Ben Lewin) That I organised it?

Yeah, but I think
they were a bit annoyed

to see the press down here.

They didn't like it.

They didn't like it
when they see the press.

They close all the windows.

They... they put
the lights inside.

All the windows were open
when we get in

and when we sit down
they put curtains...

(Woman)
Inside the police station?

Yeah.

(Ben Lewin) What's your
experience been like here?

Experience?
What sort of experience? Oh!

My goodness!
This is experience? Oh!

Experience is horrible.

Everybody's got the same story,
all back along behind there.

How are you treated?

Obviously when I'm treated
as a prisoner over here,

you can make a zebra out of me,

like right now you are seeing.

I'm not allowed to step out
of this place,

as if I'm a criminal.

I've not committed any crime.

Everybody is depressed. You can
see people crying around here.

(Ben Lewin) Hmm?

(Man) You can see
people crying around here.

(Ben Lewin) Do people here
understand why they're in here?

Well, most of them,
if they've not understood,

they're made to understand,
do you see?

We had one person
in the morning today.

Two of them, rather.

They were going to
United States of America,

coming from Saudi Arabia.

They had a transit halt
of about 18 hours over here

and they had hotel booking
and everything.

These people never
allowed them to go the hotel.

They said this was the hotel

and when those poor chaps
landed over here,

they were shocked.

They were just shocked, you see.

They felt they were
taking them to a hotel.

They didn't know
that they were putting them

to a detention camp.

(Ben Lewin) Before this,
did you regard yourself

as having any British sympathy,
British connections?

I did always feel that I was
possessing a British passport

and that was something.

Till such time I have realised

that possessing
a British passport,

I think it's a discredit.

Mind you, I'm not going
to possess it anymore.

When I go home,
I will think it over,

whether I should possess it

or just ask
for some other nationality

of some other country,
not this one.

He holds a British passport.

And these men, they were
kicked out of Burma,

you know about Burma,
you see, for about ten years.

For ten good years of his life,
he has slogged.

He has slogged.

Just because
he's a national of this place,

obviously he's not
going to be entitled to work

in any other country
other than this.

So, wherever for these
ten years he has worked here

he has worked illegally,
do you see?

All this... all these years.
And poor chap,

he did not have money to come
over here all these years.

So now he has borrowed
money from his friends,

and landed over here.

(Man murmurs)

Same place, detention room.

(Ben Lewin) What's the average
length of stay here?

What seems to be the time
that people have to...

The average length?

I won't tell you average length

because most of the people
around over here

have stayed more
than a week over here.

In fact for myself
I have 15 days.

This gentleman must be
about 13 days.

And there are people who have
stayed for two months

and one month.

(Ben Lewin) Mm.

This gentleman over here,
he had,

I think, a pure British
passport before about 1939.

39, yeah. In the year '39.

He has been setting off
for United Kingdom.

Setting off for
the United Kingdom by bus.

Past 40 years.

(Ben Lewin)
How long has he been here?

(Man) He's been here
for about two months now.

- (Ben Lewin) For how long?
- For two months, I think.

(Ben Lewin) What's happening
with his case?

Well, God alone knows
what's happening with his case.

So far he has not been asked
to come to the Immigration.

Nobody has informed him
anything about it.

This man wanted to come
from Karachi to this place

and settle over here.

He says he has a right
to settle

because he has got
a pure British passport.

Mr Lewin, if you'd like to come
and have a word with me, please.

(Ben Lewin) I think I'll have
a word with you here.

Look, I'm not required to come
and have a word with you.

I'll have a word with you here,
if you like, Mr Mitchell.

You're not prepared to come
and have a word with me, then?

We can talk here.

Oh, I see.

Well, tell me,
have you got permission

from the Home Office PRO
for this?

I spoke on Wednesday
to Alex Lyon,

the Minister of Immigration

and he has no objection himself

to my filming any matters
involving immigration control.

I'll give you his home
telephone number.

No, no.

You say you did this on, what,
Wednesday of this week?

I spoke to Alex Lyon
on Wednesday of this week.

He has no objection

to my filming anything
involving immigration control.

But did this include the people
in the detention accommodation?

The only proviso was,

that if officials working
in the Immigration service

didn't wish to be included
in the film,

then I should respect
their wishes,

and I've agreed to do that.

So, you've not
taken it up directly

with the press
relations officer?

You've gone straight to Mr Lyon?

(Ben Lewin) Yes.

But the press relations
officer is acquainted with me.

All right. Well, if you say
you've cleared it...

(Ben Lewin) I haven't asked...
I haven't on this occasion

asked the Home Office
for any facility,

to provide me with any facility.

But as a personal discussion
between myself and Mr Lyon,

- he has nothing to hide.
- No, very well.

(Ben Lewin) I don't know
if your opinion differs.

Well, if you say
that you've done that,

there's nothing
much more I can do.

All right, thank you, Mr Lewin.

But if you talk to the officer
like this, he believes in you,

but when I tell him that I am
right, he doesn't believe in me.

When I tell him that I have
come as a visitor, he says no.

When I tell him I've got
business over there, he says no.

When I tell him that
my wife is pregnant

and I'm expected
to reach home earlier,

they say no.

When you say that you
have talked to somebody,

he just takes it for granted
that you have talked.

Why doesn't he phone after
the minister concerned and ask

whether you have
taken permission or not?

But just merely, I suppose,
because you are white,

and I'm brown,

he takes you for granted
and with me, no.

(Vehicle approaches)

(Ben Lewin)
I think we'd best be off.

Well, we can see some
new faces coming over here.

- They're the latest.
- (Ben Lewin) Yes.

(First man)
The latest criminals, you see.

God knows what is their crime.

Because over here
people come with visas

and even they are refused.

(Lewin) Have you been assisted
at all by any outside agency?

(First man) Well, my brother
approached the UKIAS

and they said they are
going to take care of it,

and UKIAS, I tell you,
that's a body

which just doesn't get
into my head, you see?

I've been here
for bloody 15 days.

Nobody has come
to see me so far. Nobody.

One person did come,
day before yesterday.

But that is when
I phone him up to find out

as to what's the fate
of my case.

The man says it's
with the Home Office

and he doesn't know
the fate of it.

I was working one day
late in the office

and then I had a telephone call
from Benjani

and he said that I should
inform the... Immigration

that he would like to go back
if he's not let in.

So, I found him...
he was in a bit of a mood,

so I decided that I go
and see him personally.

So I visited him
in the detention centre

and I gave him a bit of advice.

And advice was that...

be patient.

I wanna stick this
up the Immigration.

Of course.

And that is my main...
my main idea.

Yeah.

And that's why I want to do
this, because I think myself

that it's wrong what
they are doing to people.

It is wrong.

They are making people suffer
for nothing

and they're bloody hypocrites

and therefore...
and that is the main reason

why I wanna have a go
at the Immigration.

Yes.

Well, let 'em change
their bloody laws.

They give people passports,
British passports,

when they need them,
when they wanna milk 'em,

and after they can't
milk 'em anymore,

the passports, they might
as well put it down the toilet.

Now...

I came to see you

because I don't have many
contacts in Pakistan and India,

and I wanted to arrange,
in view of the new ruling,

by Lord Denning,

that people don't...

or wives of patrioles
don't have to...

...go to the British
High Commission

in Delhi or Pakistan,

Karachi,

to get the entry certificates.

It could be given
from this country...

...and therefore people
don't have to wait 21 months

before they can join
their husbands

and before fathers
can see their children.

So, I've come to you to see
if we can sort of arrange

whereby we can fetch over
100, 200 or 300 wives...

...of patrioles
into this country,

without having to wait
in long queues

and being messed about
for 21 months

and maybe longer.

Now, do you have
such contacts there?

Yes, yes, we have.

Do you think.... Are you
interested in doing this?

Yes.

It says that, um...

golden years for
the Pakistani in Britain.

(Man) Hello?

You will be delighted
to hear that

that you could bring
your children,

your wife from Pakistan

and you don't have
to wait so long.

You need a passport.

Marriage certificate.

And a birth certificate.

We are bringing a flight
from Pakistan

to carry 300 families,

so if you like to be
one of the passengers,

please contact us.

And especially, you see,

they don't have to worry
about any legal aspects

and they don't have
to be scared

that they'll be sent back.

People from India,
Bangladesh, has got no fear.

They could come,
jumping up to Britain,

without any problem.

But the people from Pakistan,
they've got a bit of problem,

which I'm taking care of.

You know, they won't have
any problem. They will come.

After this high court
judgement, I feel,

that if we arrange a flight,

and people come here,

at the airport,
the immigration officers

will have to give them the OK
to enter the country

as legal immigrants

to join their husbands.

What airline
will accept them?

Of course, they're all
immigrants, all of them.

If you like...

- Yeah.
- Yes.

We are bringing them by Russian
Airlines. No, let them...

No, we'll even
bring them by Air India.

No, no.

British Airways.

We'll bring them by British
Airways and Air India.

Look, we've got a very small
country over here, very small,

compared to, you know,
the world,

- a tiny little country.
- Yeah.

Why overpopulate it?

Why make it worse
for everybody that's here?

No, it's not overcrowded.

Listen, why did they
come in the first place?

You tell me, why did they
come here in the first place?

Why did they come?

Why did somebody
allow them to come here?

Because they did think they'd
have a better life over here.

No, why did somebody
allow them here?

- Because they...
- They needed 'em.

- Yeah, they needed them, right?
- They needed them then.

Yeah, but they don't
need 'em now.

You can't say it like that,
they don't need them now.

They just keep the manpower
and they don't...

they don't want their wives
and children.

Why is that?

I know what we're gonna do.

We are going to bring
three loads of aeroplanes,

three loads, and we'll see
what the Home Office does.

We are going to bring
three loads of aeroplanes

full up with wives and children,

which have been stranded in
India, Pakistan, Bangladesh,

right into Heathrow Airport,
Gatwick Airport,

Stansted and Luton Airport.

- Is that all?
- No, maybe we'll bring more.

It's a matter
of opening a floodgate.

If we open this, we open
the floodgate to everybody,

to the world.

The British islands are swamped.
They can't take any more people!

My wife and my children
have to stay with me.

Yes, your wife and children...

But if they're allowed to come
here, and they're not allowed.

That's what we're going to
request, the British Government.

To be more human. They're not.

At least some of their officers.

They don't want to
consider us on equal par.

What they want, to give
the rights to you as white man.

We have the same rights.

Either they shouldn't
admit us in this country.

If they have... if they have...

we are working very honourably,

we are living very, very,
very honestly, hard-working.

We work... It is eight o'clock
and I'm still working.

I earn my living and I earn
the right to bring my family

to enjoy the benefits
of my work

and they can't do that in India
or Pakistan or Bangladesh.

They have to be here

so that my children can be here
to enjoy all the benefits,

which by my hard work
I deserve in this country.

I deserve as much as you.

First of all, my criticism is
that the adventure is ill-timed

in the sense that

the divisional court
is considering that matter.

It might prejudice
their decision.

Secondly, that the way
it has been propagated,

that they don't need
an entry certificate,

that it has already
been decided by court.

I'm just saying
they don't need the law.

That's my view as a lawyer.

But when you tell the people
the law has already decided,

now that is a mischief.

It's the wrong way to put it.

The way it has been advertised
in the court of appeal

has now said Pakistanis
don't need entry certificate,

the court of appeal
has not said.

So one thing was that is
a wrong way to inform people.

And secondly, I come back
with the same thing.

That people ought to know
what risk they are taking.

If they are taking, knowingly,
they are taking risk,

if they know
when they are in the air,

before they land at the airport,

that all may not be
lovely and green,

they might have to stay
in detention

and are ready to fight
for their rights,

then I'm all for it.

Mr Dooley, how about
a nice cup of coffee

and we sit down
and we have a little talk.

What about Coca-Cola?

Better still.

Cheers, man. Best of luck.

(Speaking Urdu)

I made a terrible mistake.

My brother-in-law
came from Finland

and I took him
down Hatton Garden

and I just bought him a watch.

(Mr Dooley) You are very angry?

(Mr Davis) No,
I didn't know he sold watches.

Let my advertisement
go through first.

Yes.

It will take another...
about a week.

You know, this advertisement
may come this Saturday.

Yes.

And it reads... should I show...
should I read, would you say?

Please.

In Urdu or in English or what?

Well, I don't understand Urdu.

You'll have to tell me
in English what it means.

Yeah, it's written, how many
beds you've got in your house.

In your home.

Um... how many trees
are in the lawn.

And what is the colour
of your dog.

And how many animals
you got in the house.

(Mr Davis) What do they
want to know that for?

Yeah, but this is what these
people are asked in Pakistan.

So these are the questions
which are asked

by the entry...
the entry visa officer

in British High Commission
in Pakistan.

(Mr Davis) How many trees
they got in the house?

- What, in Pakistan or here?
- In Pakistan.

And if they don't know,

they don't think that
they are the right people.

If they don't answer
the right question

they say no,
we don't give you visa.

Well, I've been living
in a house 17 years.

I don't know how many trees
I've got in my house.

So therefore
I can't go anywhere.

This is how they prolong it.

This is how they prolong
the... the dates.

They give them...
keep giving them dates

until somebody pay
them the money.

And they ask them
the colour of the...

Yeah, the colour of the dog.

The colour of the dog.

Do they ask how many times
the dog has a piss each day?

Yeah, of course they do.

They ask them.

And if they can't answer them,

they don't give them
any entry permit.

No, why Home Office should
write a letter to me? Why?

They're very worried.
They're worried.

If the law is all right,
why should they write to me?

Who wrote it?

Yeah.

God Almighty.

Hello?

That's right, yes.

Mr who?
Oh, yes, he's here, yes.

One second, please, yes.

For you.

Hullo.

I've been informed that you
must have no dealings with me.

Is that... is that
what you're saying?

Yes, Mr Dooley has been
over to my office to see me

to discuss this plane
we're bringing in tomorrow.

Can I help him with it?

Yes, well, we've got...
no, we've got a letter from you.

It says that, er...

the Minister of State,
Mr Lyon,

has asked me to express
to you his concern

about this advertisement

and to endorse the observations
of Mr Sibghat Kadri.

Who's Mr Sibg...
I know Mr Kadi.

Kadri. I know him well,

and he's only a young barrister.

I mean, the barristers
that Mr Dooley has been to

are very senior members
of the bar.

I mean they're
real pukka barristers

and, er, the advice
he's got from them is OK.

Bring them in.

Just like that?

Yes, well, when... Right.

Well, then, Justice Denning,

Lord Justice Denning,
if he will issue...

(Clears throat) ...corpus
habeus, mandamus papers...

I don't see
how you can return them.

It'd be contempt of court.

(Clears throat) Mr Wicks.

But, Mr Wicks, in all fairness,
I told Mr Dooley to cancel it.

I've tried to tell him
to cancel it.

Because I told him
that it's silly.

He should hire a ship, a boat.

A great big boat.

Well, if there's nothing
further you can add,

then we'll have to see
and wait to...

wait and see what happens.

Ah, bye-bye.

He's gone mad.

Nothing further I can add,

these people will be
returned and...

Yeah.

So the next meeting
will be in a hall?

Yeah. Would you arrange
for a hall, or what?

Well, I had to tell him that
we've got a ship coming over.

Get them all worried.

And there's a plane
coming over tomorrow.

And you can bet your life
that down at the airport

there'll be about 600
immigration officers.

So we'll give
the poor immigrants

a chance in Dover to get in.

Cos there'll be no immigration
officers in Dover.

They're gonna transfer
them all to Heathrow.

Yeah.

With all the Securicor people.

Yeah.

Which is good because I've got
some people coming in Dover

so I don't want to
get them aggravation.

So they'll be able to come in.
Let's divert 'em, shall we?

Yeah.

We'll tell 'em
they're coming to Heathrow.

We'll get the plane
to land at Gatwick

and we'll have those immigration
officers running up and down.

They'll be giddy. They won't
know where they're running.

OK, then, Mr Dooley.

OK, then. Fine.
Thanks a lot.

And I'll see you.

Yes. Thank you for calling
and that's lovely.

Yeah, yeah.

I'll have to put in
a word first, you see.

No, we'll fight. You ready
to fight? Then we'll fight.

Yeah, yes. Yes.

(Speaks Urdu)

I'm not asking any money
or anything.

(Mr Davis)
And therefore you should...

Asking people to come forward.
And let's do together.

(Mr Davis) Yes, but nobody's
come forward, you see?

You should form yourself
into a group.

Those long waiting queues,
they should be eliminated.

Yes, that's it.

They must make these
arrangements in such a way...

Yeah, well, what the public
is going to do for this?

So, what we people
are going to do for this?

Are we doing anything? Are
we writing to the Home Office?

We have to agitate here
to the Home Office.

And if you can bring
numbers, 200, 300,

they won't send
a planeload of people back.

We can have 'em out on bail.

We can have them out on bail
to be with you,

and I think you'll win the case.

Actually, they cannot
withstand the impact

which will be generated
by the numbers.

(Mr Davis) You've got
people fighting for you.

There should be
some reason why.

Sorry about this,
you see, and that's it.

I thought that you people
really need help.

But you don't need help, do you?

No, they don't need help.

I mean, Pakistanis
don't need help.

What help do you need?

They think everybody on fast
now. They're too tired to come.

Yeah, that's a possibility,
you know.

Tomorrow is a festival,
you see. Today's a fast.

What, tomorrow's Ramadan?

Yes, end of Ramadan
tomorrow, yes.

The end of Ramadan?

It's a feast day, you know,
it's a holiday.

All right, OK.

We're fasting for Ramadan.

All right, we'll go along then.
We'll speak to them tomorrow.

- Yes.
- It's a good idea.

That's what we should have
done in the first place.

Gone to the mosques.
In the first place.

Yeah, you're right.

Well, the people here
in this country,

who are living here, you see,

they are living
scattered all over

and they're not organised.

That has been the main,
you see, difficulty,

that, as you have
witnessed inside,

that there has not been
a good gathering over here.

I mean, some of us...
for instance, myself,

I'm not faced
with any difficulty

so far as this problem
is concerned.

But I'm interested
in the problem itself

and its solution,

because the solution,
it is so, so difficult

for the Pakistanis

that so far
we haven't seen anything,

you see, coming out.

People whose wives
are waiting to join them,

they are giving dates.

Their applications
to be examined in Islamabad

in 1977.

You see?

For instance, this gentleman,
his daughter, you see,

has applied
to come to her father,

and she has applied
in Islamabad,

and she has been given a date

for her application
to be examined

and for her
to be interviewed

in July '77.

When did she apply?

When did she apply?

About six month ago.

She applied six months ago.

And she was already
in this country

over four and a half years,

and she went back in 1969.

What kind of business
are you doing here?

(Ben Lewin) I'm making a film
about it, about these problems.

Well, how do you like
this jacket?

- (Ben Lewin) How do I like it?
- Yes.

(Ben Lewin)
I've had it for ten years.

- Ten years?
- Yes.

It's time
you had a new one now.

- You think so?
- Yes.

I'm very attached to this one.

Oh, it's very nice, but we are
dealing in leather jackets.

(Ben Lewin) Oh, yeah?

We are dealing
in leather jackets,

and actually these are
very expensive garments.

But we'll do a deal,
cheap for you,

since you are interested
in our problems.

(Ben Lewin) Mm. You'll also
take interest in mine?

Yes. Yes.

(Ben Lewin) Well, I've never
really regarded this jacket

as one of my problems.

Thanet House.

And we go in there.

- (Woman coughs)
- All right.

Would you like to go
in the waiting room?

We're gonna have
a colonial hearing today.

Of course. In there.

Now, I've forgot my native boy.

He's coming along
with a palm leaf in a minute

and he's wearing a loincloth.

Is he?

So, please show him
the way to the waiting room.

I will.

Right, and my two bearers
will come along in a minute.

- Is that OK?
- (Laughing) Yes, sir.

Are you calling
any more witnesses?

Er... yes.

The names were all taken,
weren't they?

The coach will be along
in about one hour.

(They laugh)

You'd had two witnesses,
hadn't you?

Yes.

And there's one more to go.

Yes, we have
this gentleman to go.

Oh, fine. Any more?

The coach. I don't know what
time the coach will be down.

Are you joking?

No, they've just come off...

They've just come off.
The plane has just landed.

With the 72 Pakistanis.

(Woman laughs)

They'll be along soon.
They're coming straight along.

Right. We're in
the big tribunal room.

Are we? That's fine.

I never know whether
he's joking or not.

- It's hot in Africa.
- I was gonna say.

It's goddamn hot
in this midday sun.

- Mr McCall will like that.
- Tigers all around me.

There we are. Have you
already been a witness?

Yeah.

Oh, so you can sit
anywhere you like.

And do you want him...
Shall I sit him there?

You're gonna be straightaway...

(Mr Davis) Isn't it a fact
you refused these people

because they were Cypriots?

(Man) You're coming very close

to attacking
this witness's character.

- (Mr Davis) Am I really?
- (Man) Yes.

(Mr Davis) Do you know
a Chirin Gheling?

(Man) Well, do you know
a Mr Chirin Gheling?

(Man 2) Yes, he's
the Chief Immigration Officer

mentioned in the last
paragraph here.

(Mr Davis) Very well.
Did you know what...

did you know that
Mr Chirin Gheling told me

that he doesn't like Cypriots,
they're all liars?

(Mr McCall) Mr...
Don't answer that question.

It's completely irrelevant.

(Mr Davis) I'm asking
if he knows about it.

(Mr McCall) Well, I'm telling
him not to answer it.

(Mr Davis) Why?

(Mr McCall) Because
it's completely irrelevant.

(Mr Davis) Why?

(Mr McCall) Because I say so.

(Mr Davis) Why?

(Mr McCall) Mr Davis,
please get on with it.

(Mr Davis) The reason
for not letting this man in

was that you thought
he had too much money.

£550.

(Mr Gaughn) One of the
reasons was that, er...

his funds compared
with his, um... salary

initially, as the driver
of a shunting locomotive

and then subsequently
after being a refugee,

um...

...as the driver of a bulldozer,

that, er... he seemed
to have a lot of money

compared with his earnings.

(Mr Davis) Well,
on the same flight

there was a chap
by the name of Chris Ndulu.

He was sent back because
he never had enough money.

He only had £320.

On himself.
Now, what's enough money?

I want to ascertain
what is enough money.

(Mr McCall) Don't answer
that question. It's irrelevant.

(Mr Davis) I think it's a lot
of rubbish with you people!

You look at a person's face

and they turn round
and say too much money,

not enough money.

You went to Greece
for a holiday.

How much money
did you take with you?

(Mr McCall) You needn't
answer that question.

(Mr Davis) Can't answer
this question,

you can't answer that question,
you can't answer this...

It's a perfect, legitimate,
relevant question.

(Mr McCaw) I don't agree
with you. Don't answer it.

(Mr Davis) Because
I know people here,

that come over here,
to this country...

Six weeks ago,
an Arab come to this country

and, sir, these people said,

"Are you gonna work
in this country?"

Man says no.

"If I gave you a chance
to work in this country..."

(Mr McCaw) Mm.

"...would you work
in this country?"

The Arab said, "Look at
my passport, you idiot.

"I'm the son
of the Sheik of Kuwait!"

(Mr McCaw) Mr Davis,
you really go too far.

Now, get on with it, please.

Otherwise I'll have to withdraw
my recognition of you.

(Mr Davis) Have to...

(Mr McCall) I'll have to
withdraw my recognition of you

as an advocate
in this, er... hearing.

I've got the power so to do.

(Mr Davis) Of course you have.

(Mr McCaw)
You've tried my patience...

(Mr Davis) Of course you have
your instructions as well

from the Home Office.

(Mr McCaw) Well, now,
under those circumstances,

you bring me to
the brink of withdrawing.

That is an infamous observation.

(Mr Davis)
There has been instruction...

There's the evidence here.

(Mr McCaw) I am a completely
independent adjudicator,

subject to no influence
whatsoever.

"From your conduct in this
building, as reported to me,

"by certain of my colleagues
and staff,

"I have for some time suspected

"that you are not a fit
and proper person

"to be allowed to represent
appellants before adjudicators."

Took 'em two years
to find out that I wasn't a...

fit and proper person.

It's up to me to decide

with whom the Home Office
will deal.

And, er...

where there's such
a wide range of choice

and there is this very...

difficult question,

about the control
of a professional agent,

um... I think
that it's legitimate

to make the ruling
in the way that I did.

(Lewin) As you would know
from a Sunday Times comment,

though, there is a certain
Levantine philosophy

that you get only
what you pay for.

Well, I think there is
a feeling among some groups

that unless the advice
that is offered to them

is paid for,

it's unlikely to be
very sound advice,

but I think it's...

it's an attitude
that we ought to try to resist

because I'm absolutely certain

that the voluntary
organisations, by and large,

give excellent advice

and that the kind
of efforts that are made

by members of parliament
in particular

on behalf of constituents,

are... very effective,

and therefore it is unnecessary

in dealing with immigration

to have paid agencies,
in my view.

(Ben Lewin) It is unnecessary?

Mm.

(Coughs)

(Mr Lyon)
On 7th August this year,

I asked Mr Davis to see me.

He explained that he considered
immigration control

to be a joke,

and since the situation
was what it was

that he saw no reason

why he should not base
a business upon it.

There is little evidence
to show that at any stage

that he's done anything
that is illegal.

But he is the kind
of engaging conman

who works in the East End
markets, selling plates.

(People laugh)

With people who are immigrants

he is a very dangerous man
indeed to be let at large.

(Man coughs)

Therefore I decided

that we were going to put
a stop to his activities.

He claims that his average
price is about £50.

On that basis, if my honourable
friend is right in saying

that he does 1,000 cases a year,

his average income is £50,000.

(Man) How are the public
to sum you up, Mr Davis?

Your sincerity might bring
tears to their eyes.

At the same time
they might feel that

no minister would call you
an East End conman

if he didn't have some facts
to back him up.

(Mr Davis) He's accused me of
selling plates off of a barrow.

There's nothing wrong in
selling plates off of a barrow.

Maybe Alex Lyon doesn't
eat off plates.

Maybe he eats off the floor.
I don't know.

Mr Lyon said in Parliament
that you earn £50,000 a year.

He said you told him that.
Is that true?

No, I told Alex Lyon
that I earn £50,000 a week.

Not a year.

Because Alex Lyon,
after five minutes,

I realised I was
talking to a nut.

I... I run my organisation
in this manner.

People who can afford to pay

subsidise the people
who cannot afford to pay.

And I say that I earn about
seven and a half thousand.

About seven and a half thousand
to ten thousand a year.

Alex Lyon can make
any allegation he likes.

When I was with Alex Lyon,

and he told me
he wants to be a priest,

and I said, "Well,
good luck to you,

"I hope you'll be
a bishop one day

"and I can become your curate."

He's gonna be a parish priest?
God help us.

He'll be worse than
Oliver Cromwell, won't he?

(Laughs)

They've done
some shocking things.

I think when anyone takes
a young girl of 13 years of age

for no apparent reason

and sticks 'em
in a concentration camp...

Because we've got concentration
camps in this country.

I took a lady out of the
concentration camp last week.

She was there
six months pregnant

and she has been there
for seven weeks.

She committed no crime.

She came over here
to join her husband.

Yeah, it's a legal right
for a woman to join her husband.

He is a resident
in this country.

Right of abode in this country,
in the United Kingdom.

Why can't she join her husband?

So, I brought my wife with me
on 12th October

and then they take her
in a detention centre

and they locked her up
to seven weeks over there.

- (Man) For how long?
- Seven weeks.

(Ben Lewin)
Which detention centre?

Er... Harmondsworth
Detention Centre.

So I have to go there.

If I take her any food,

they say the food
is not allowed,

and she was pregnant.

She had to feed two people

and they just giving her
only rice dinnertime,

and rice the night-time.

(Ben Lewin) How much pregnant
is she? What's her...

(Man) She was over
six months pregnant

and sometimes she was
quite hungry there.

(Ben Lewin)
Could she rest there?

She have no rest at all.

(Ben Lewin) Why not?

Because they never,
er... open her room

so she can lie down somewhere.

- (Ben Lewin) Her bedroom?
- Bedroom, yes.

(Ben Lewin)
Why? What happened?

They're locked from 9am,
nine o'clock,

and up till 9pm.

They don't open the room
till 9 or 10.

(Ben Lewin)
So, she couldn't lie down?

No, she couldn't lie down.

If she tries, sometimes
she like to be, like relax,

then she have to make
two chairs together.

(Ben Lewin)
What did you do once...

once they put her inside
the detention centre?

Well, I went to see someone
at the detention centre.

I went to see
the UK Advisory Service.

I said, what I should do?
They said you can see your MP.

But our MP was sitting in
the House of Commons that time.

I couldn't speak
to my MP at all.

Then I was fail everywhere

then I went to see
the solicitor.

The solicitor said to me,
"I will take £100."

(Ben Lewin) How much?

£100, before I spoke to anybody.

I said OK.

Go ahead, I gave him £100.

(Ben Lewin)
What did he do for the £100?

Well, he just took it
and put it in his pocket.

(Ben Lewin)
No, but what work did he do?

What work he done,
he done this one.

He wrote a letter to MP

and he wrote a letter
to immigration officer

and he sent a copy
to the Home Office as well.

So, then they says, OK,
we will be... stop your wife.

As long as his MP
involve in this case.

So it was seven weeks.

I never heard after that what
is going on, where I'm going.

I got fed up, you know?

Then I went to Mr Davis.

Then he told me that...
he phoned to everywhere.

I mean in the journalists'
papers there's...

I know he done
a lot of work for me.

Then he put in the papers,
Times, Guardian,

It came to the Guardian.

She was released same day

when the article
came in the paper.

(Ben Lewin) Your wife doesn't
speak English, does she?

No, she cannot
speak English at all.

(Ben Lewin) What does she think
of her whole experience?

Was she surprised that...

Well, she was thinking, that
we were thinking everywhere,

that is Britain is very great,
very humanity over there,

people is nice,

and everything is going well,

people love dogs and cats.

But I've seen different in here.

People love dogs and cats.

They don't love people
each and other.

Huh?

So, I'm pregnant woman.

What I have suffer,
I know, she says.

But nobody else knows.

I don't want you to think
that I am for immigration.

I'm against it.

I don't believe we should have
a million Pakistanis over here

and five million Africans

and, er... four and a half
million West Indians.

I'm against...

But the British Government
printed a lot of passports,

and they didn't know what
to do with these passports.

They printed too many

and they gave them out
to all these people.

Well, if you give
these passports out,

on the front page...
I've got...

No, I don't think
I have mine with me.

But in front of the passport
it says,

Her Majesty
with the Privy Council...

You know all this jazz?

Let the holder have free, er...

and in school they taught 'em
to sing God Save The King

and God Save The Queen.

See, the public don't know.
They don't know what's...

You, Mr Lewin, you've been
to Harmondsworth.

You've seen cases
of girls locked up.

Now, I'll ask you. You've been
asking me a lot of questions.

I'll ask you a lot of...
I'll ask you just one question.

Were you surprised
at the things you saw?

(♪ Steel band plays
"Rule Britannia")