I was no rogue insists borders ex-chief

In a powerful testimony before a committee of MPs, Brodie Clark – who quit a lifelong career in the Home Office last week amid the ongoing border checks row – strongly criticised Theresa May and insisted he had not extended or altered her scheme to pilot new risk-based security checks at UK borders over the summer.

However, Mr Clark did admit using guidance designed for health and safety emergencies to suspend fingerprint checks at the UK’s ports – actions which had no formal Ministerial authorisation.

His former boss, UK Border agency (UKBA) chief executive Rob Whiteman, later told the same committee it was this action which caused him to suspend the senior official.

Mr Clark, 60, resigned last week, accusing Mrs May of having blamed him out of “political convenience”. He has launched a constructive dismissal case which could net him up to £135,000.

He told the Commons Home Affairs Select Committee yesterday: “Over 40 years I have built up a reputation, and over two days that reputation has been destroyed. I believe that has been largely because of the contribution made by the Home Secretary.

“I am no rogue officer. Nothing could be further from the truth.”

Mr Clark told MPs that fingerprint checks for non-visa holders were suspended on 50 separate occasions between May and July for health and safety reasons.

Under guidance, key checks against a Home Office list of terror suspects and illegal immigrants can be suspended when emergency services or port authorities believe it is necessary for public safety. This could be when there are lengthy queues at the border, when passengers are being held on planes or when planes are unable to land, the MPs heard.

Mr Clark said he “would expect Ministers to know that”, and that suspensions had been “standard practice” since June 2007.

He told the committee he believed the Home Office’s “warnings index” checks were too important to halt, and so told staff they could suspend fingerprint checks in such circumstances instead. He did not ask Ministers first, he said, but insisted it was never done “as a matter of course”.

“I did it to preserve the safety of the UK, not to weaken it,” he said.

Mr Clark said the issues surrounding the current row had been “confused by a conflation of two things” – the long-standing policy on dealing with health and safety issues and the Home Secretary’s summertime pilot scheme of more risk-based checks.

On the pilot he was unequivocal, saying he “did not enlarge, extend or redefine the scope in any way”.

At the end of his testimony, Mr Clark left the committee room through the “members only” door, avoiding his former boss Mr Whiteman as he came in to give his own version of events. Moments later, Mr Whiteman told the MPs Mr Clark had admitted going beyond Ministerial authorisation and that he had been right to suspend the senior civil servant.

He said Mr Clark emailed him on the morning of the suspension, saying: “Ministers said ‘no’ to this proposal (to suspend fingerprint checks in the pilot scheme), I consider that I complied with that, whilst at the same time there are provisions under which I have authorised it and Ministers have never been aware of those provisions.” The UKBA chief – who only took up his role three months ago – added: “Well that’s the same effect, isn’t it?

“What I had was evidence from one of my senior directors that Ministers were not aware what was going on under that separate provision, even though they had explicitly said what should take place under the provision they were aware of.”

Mr Whiteman also denied a claim from Mr Clark that he had offered the civil servant a retirement package. Mr Whiteman said there had been no offer and that retirement was simply an issue the pair had discussed at the end of their meeting.

But Mr Clark said: “The truth is, with 40 years of service in difficult posts across government, I had become very pragmatic. It was clear to me that there was no place for me in Rob Whiteman’s forward-going UK Border Agency.”

Mr Clark received strong backing from the FDA civil service union, which accused Mrs May of acting with “cavalier attitude” in her public condemnation of her official. Later, the Prime Minister’s spokesman said David Cameron had “full confidence” in Mrs May.