Boris Johnson has blamed “Remainer” civil servants for a 2.6 million surge in net migration under the Tories.
The former Prime Minister, who is criticised for overseeing the so-called “Boriswave” influx, accused Whitehall mandarins of believing Brexit would turn the UK into a “leper colony” unless net migration surged.
“Nice, well-meaning, liberal people were saying Brexit is going to turn us into a leper colony and people are going to flee the UK,” Mr Johnson told Sky News.
“I actually think that sort of rhetoric was taken seriously by Whitehall.
“You have a lot of good, nice, Remain civil servants, and I think that they thought that we did need to get people in to do social care and to do things like that.”
Net migration peaked at 944,000 in the year ending March 2023, with successive Tory Prime Ministers issuing 3.8 million long-term visas.
The Tory Party’s relaxed approach to legal migration resulted in a net migration influx of around 2.6 million people.
However, Mr Johnson defended his record by insisting his administration used “our legal powers to turn it off” as soon as he had “realised the numbers”.
He added: “If I had a complaint, it was after I’d left office that wasn’t done fast enough.”
But Mr Johnson is accused of overseeing a post-Brexit “Boriswave” by Reform UK.
Reform UK’s home affairs spokesman Zia Yusuf claimed the “Boriswave” will cost every British household £20,000.
He said: “The British people voted for Brexit to take back control of our borders, yet the Tories opened the floodgates and left a fiscal time bomb under the desks as they left.
“This wasn’t just mass migration – it was the deliberate importation of unprecedented numbers of low-wage, high-dependency people that is about to bankrupt the British taxpayer.”
The boom in net migration witnessed under the Tories also helped Nigel Farage’s party steadily rise in the opinion polls.
However, the former Prime Minister dismissed his role in the rise of Reform UK.
He told Sky News: “They were on about zero per cent when I was Prime Minister.”
Mr Johnson added: “It was nothing to do with me.”
The 62-year-old has spoken out against Reform UK numerous times since leaving office in September 2022, including on Ukraine.
Despite Reform UK now topping the polls, Mr Johnson suggested his Conservative colleagues should ignore Mr Farage rather than giving the Brexit veteran air time.
Speaking earlier this year, Mr Johnson said: “My strategy with the individuals that you mention is don’t talk about them.
“When I was running the UK, this party you mention was on zero per cent in the polls, sometimes three per cent max.
“Don’t talk about them. Talk about what you are going to offer the people.”
