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David Neal (British Army officer)

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David Neal
Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration
In office
22 March 2021 – 20 February 2024
MonarchElizabeth II
Prime MinisterBoris Johnson
Preceded byDavid Bolt
Personal details
Alma materRoyal Military Academy Sandhurst, Bangor University, Cranfield University
Military service
Allegiance UK
Commands1st Military Police Brigade

David Neal was the Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration and a retired Royal Military Police officer. He was appointed by the Home Secretary, Priti Patel, in succession to David Bolt who left the post in March 2021.[1]

Military career

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David Neal graduated from Bangor University with a BA in English Literature in 1993. He attended the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst on Commissioning Course 933 and was commissioned into the Royal Military Police on 20 September 1994.[2]

After service on exercise and operations across the world, on 22 July 2016, he was appointed by The Queen as the Provost Marshal (Army) and Commander of 1 Military Police Brigade in the rank of Brigadier.[3]

He accepted the Freedom of the City of Salisbury on behalf of the Royal Military Police on 14 June 2018.[4] This freedom was exercised by the Royal Military Police at Armed Forces Day on 29 June 2019.[5]

Blackstone Consultancy

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After leaving the Army he was employed by London-based Blackstone Consultancy as Strategic Security Advisor.[6] He was a finalist in the UK Outstanding Security Performance Awards (OSPAs) 2021, nominated as Outstanding Security Consultant.[7]

Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration (ICIBI)

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David Neal is the third individual appointed to the post of Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration. The ICIBI is an independent monitoring body that reports on the efficiency and effectiveness of the immigration, asylum, nationality and customs functions carried out by the Home Secretary, officials and others on her behalf.[8]

Neal gave evidence to the Home Affairs Select Committee in June 2022, where it was revealed that he had not met Home Secretary Priti Patel since his appointment in March 2021.[9] In July 2022, the Home Office published a delayed report produced by Neal[10] into the English Channel irregular migrant small boats crossings which was highly critical of the Home Office's performance and response.[11][12][13]

On 24 October 2022, Neal again gave evidence to the Home Affairs Select Committee which exposed serious overcrowding at Manston processing centre, conditions which Neal described as "wretched".[14] This evidence prompted an urgent question in the House of Commons from the Chair of the Home Affairs Select Committee, Dame Diana Johnson MP, on 26 October 2022.[15] A second urgent question on the same subject was tabled by Sir Roger Gale MP on 7 November 2022.[16]

On 12 September 2023 in an interview with the Times, Neal reported that Immigration Minister, Robert Jenrick was refusing to meet him to be discuss Neal's findings from a visit to the Bibby Stockholm barge. Neal described the removal in August of asylum seekers from the barge after the discovery of legionella bacteria as a "shambles".[17]

Later that month, it was reported on the Open Democracy website, that Neal's appointment would not be extended after his 3-year contract ended in March 2024 and that he had been 'sacked' for being excessively critical of the Home Office in reports dated from February 2022. These reports were accessed by Open Democracy through Freedom of Information requests.[18]

On 19 September 2023, in the wake of the publishing of the Brook House Public Enquiry report, Neal wrote an op ed in the Guardian which was critical of the Home Office's approach which was similar to reports that had been produced by the ICIBI:

"Rather than maintaining a sharp, clear-eyed focus on protecting the vulnerable, the department has been fixated on a narrative of abuse of the system by detainees and their legal advisers".[19]

This led to an article in the Sunday Telegraph, that claimed that the Immigration Minister, Robert Jenrick, was refusing to meet Neal over an alleged antisemitic reference in a report containing an expert review commissioned on statelessness in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. The article carried a strong rebuttal from Neal who stated that he had already agreed to remove the quotation and that...

"…the quotation in question does not appear in the portion of the report that I authored as chief inspector. Rather, it is included in an expert review of the coverage of statelessness”.[20]

In the December 2023 edition of Private Eye magazine, it was reported, under the headline 'Border Farce':

"Unusually, former army officer Neal has not been give a second three-year term, despite an impressively brisk work ethos and writing a series of hard hitting reports on various immigration cock-ups. Such a chief inspector sounds ideal, surely.......One Westminster source suggests Rycroft's [Matthew Rycroft, the Permanent Secretary at the Home Office] flunkeys thought the independent chief inspector to be far too, er, independent."[21]

Neal was dismissed[22] from his position on 20 February 2024 after a dispute with the Home Office over the release of information relating to the alleged lack of security over flights landing at London City Airport.[23]

Neal's departure led to extensive media coverage including a leading article in the Times:[24]

"The Times view on David Neal’s sacking: Shooting the Messenger. The departing borders watchdog deserves praise, not punishment, for doing his job"

The New Statesman reported:[25]

"We are fortunate that people are willing to speak truth to power, even at a personal cost. That they sometimes lose their jobs in the process should worry us all, and shame those they are holding to account."

There was also an urgent question on 5 March 2024 from the Chair of the Home Affairs Select Committee, Dame Diana Johnson.[26]

Later work

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It was reported on 24 April 24 by the Sun's Chief Political Correspondent, Jack Elsom, that Neal was appointed as an advisor to the Home Affairs Select Committee.[27]

Media

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In addition to contributions in print, TV and Radio. Neal captained the Bangor University alumni team which reached the semi-finals of BBC University Challenge which aired on BBC 2 on 28 December 2023. The team were beaten by the eventual winners of the competition, Middlesex University.[28]

Neal featured in the Spectator magazine's podcast Coffee House Shots on 27 February 2024 in an episode entitled 'David Neal versus the Home Office'.[29]

Neal was also a judge for the 2023/2024 British Kebab Awards,[30] attending the awards ceremony at the Park Plaza Hotel on 27 February 2024.[31]

He was the featured guest on the Today Show Podcast, which aired on BBC Radio 4 on 14 March 2024, where he was interviewed by Amol Rajan and Nick Robinson about his experiences as the ICIBI.[32]

Neal was shortlisted for the 2024 Contrarian Prize.[33]

References

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  1. ^ "New Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration appointed". 22 March 2021.
  2. ^ "No. 53794". The London Gazette (Supplement). 20 September 1994. p. 13205.
  3. ^ "Appointment of Provost Marshal (Army)". Facebook. 21 July 2016.
  4. ^ "Salisbury Journal - Freedom of the City for Royal Military Police". 14 June 2018. Archived from the original on 27 May 2021.
  5. ^ "Salisbury Journal - More than 40k celebrate Armed Forces Day weekend". 1 July 2019. Archived from the original on 27 May 2021.
  6. ^ "Blackstone Consultancy". Blackstone Consultancy.
  7. ^ "Finalists for the 2021 UK OSPAs announced". 6 January 2021.
  8. ^ "UK Borders Act 2007". 30 October 2007. Archived from the original on 24 December 2010.
  9. ^ "Parliamentlive.tv". parliamentlive.tv. Retrieved 23 July 2022.
  10. ^ "Inspection Report Published: An inspection of the initial processing of migrants arriving via small boats at Tug Haven and Western Jet Foil December 2021 – January 2022". gov.uk. Retrieved 23 July 2022.
  11. ^ Dathan, Matt (21 July 2022). "National security threat as Channel migrants vanish". The Times. ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 23 July 2022.
  12. ^ "World at One". www.bbc.co.uk. BBC Sounds. 21 July 2022. Retrieved 23 July 2022.
  13. ^ "Calais migrant crisis". BBC News. Retrieved 23 July 2022.
  14. ^ "Parliament TV".
  15. ^ "Parliament TV".
  16. ^ "Asylum Seekers Accommodation and Safeguarding". Hansard. Retrieved 8 November 2022.
  17. ^ Dathan, Matt (4 October 2023). "Home Office cuts number of migrants to be housed on Bibby Stockholm barge". The Times. ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 4 October 2023.
  18. ^ "Revealed: Home Office called watchdog 'excessively critical'". openDemocracy. Retrieved 4 October 2023.
  19. ^ Neal, David (19 September 2023). "I warned ministers about our disgraceful UK detention centres. Their solution? Stop the inspections". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 4 October 2023.
  20. ^ Hazell, Will; Malnick, Edward (23 September 2023). "Robert Jenrick refuses to meet independent borders inspector over 'anti-Semitic reference' in report". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 4 October 2023.
  21. ^ "Border Farce". Private Eye. No. 1612. London. 1 December 2023. p. 1.
  22. ^ Syal, Rajeev. "Home secretary sacks borders watchdog via Zoom after clash". The Guardian. Retrieved 14 April 2024.
  23. ^ "Chief immigration inspector David Neal sacked after airport security row with Home Office". ITV News. 20 February 2024. Retrieved 20 February 2024.
  24. ^ "The Times view on David Neal's sacking: Shooting the Messenger". The Times. 23 February 2024. Retrieved 20 March 2024.
  25. ^ "Why the Home Office manipulated the news". The New Statesman. 6 March 2024. Retrieved 20 March 2024.
  26. ^ Hansard (4 March 2024). "Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration". Retrieved 20 March 2024.
  27. ^ Elsom, Jack. "Twitter Post". Twitter.
  28. ^ "BBC University Challenge". www.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 3 May 2024.
  29. ^ "David Neal vs the Home Office". The Spectator. 27 February 2024. Retrieved 5 September 2024.
  30. ^ British Kebab Awards. "Judges 2024". www.britishkebabawards.co.uk. Retrieved 3 May 2024.
  31. ^ "Spotted..." Politico London Playbook. 28 February 2024. Retrieved 3 May 2024.
  32. ^ BBC Today Show Podcast. "Why is the Home Office 'dysfunctional' - sacked immigration chief speaks out". www.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 4 May 2024.
  33. ^ "Five whistleblowers: the 2024 Contrarian Prize shortlist". TheArticle. 7 October 2024. Retrieved 23 October 2024.

https://twitter.com/JackElsom/status/1783124971125907515

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