Sacked border watchdog David Neal told MPs he was fired “for doing my job” and hit out at the “shocking” way the Home Office terminated his role.
He was sacked as the independent chief inspector of borders and immigration earlier this month after losing the confidence of Home Secretary James Cleverly amid claims he breached the terms of his appointment.
The former inspector had become embroiled in a row with the Home Office about concerns he was raising over security checks at airports.
Mr Neal told the Commons Home Affairs Committee: “I’ve been sacked for doing my job.
“I think I’ve been sacked for doing what the law asks of me and I’ve breached, I’ve fallen down over a clause in my employment contract, which I think is a crying shame.”
His tenure as the independent borders watchdog was due to end on March 21 and he claimed No 10 had blocked his reappointment before he was ultimately fired.
He told the committee: “I now know that the Home Office, so the ministers, supported my reappointment, my extension, my reappointment. And the Home Secretary supported my reappointment.
“That reappointment process was sent to the Cabinet Office and that was sent on to No 10 and it was turned down by No 10.
The ICIBI has commenced a spot check inspection of Border Force’s operational response to general aviation flights at London City Airport. https://t.co/tSKxm3PPqG
— ICIBI (@IndependentCI) January 24, 2024
“So, I’ve no idea why it was turned down by No 10.”
He added: “So, I can’t tell you, I can’t tell you why I have not been reappointed. But I can tell you that the Home Office, as far as I understand from material that has been disclosed to us, approved my reappointment.”
Mr Neal also denied a suggestion by Mr Cleverly that he had been afforded the opportunity to reapply for his role, telling MPs that was “not the case”.
The material was disclosed as part of a judicial review in relation to the Manston migrant processing centre.
Asked about the alleged No 10 involvement, a Downing Street spokeswoman said: “I’m not getting into conversations or correspondence between No 10 and the department, but how this works is this is a Home Secretary appointment and I think the Home Office made statements at the time when that position was open, to follow a fair recruitment process.”
Mr Neal told the MPs he had been fired in a Microsoft Teams meeting held online.
The former borders inspector said: “Worse than that, for my high-performing team of 30 civil servants, the notification that I was sacked was in the media before my team or I had had the chance to speak to them, which is just shocking. Shocking leadership.”
Mr Neal’s departure from the role comes in the wake of a series of critical inspection findings where he frequently took the department to task over its performance in the areas he inspected.
During his tenure, Mr Neal had repeatedly raised concerns that the department was too slow to publish his reports and questioned why his three-year contract was not renewed for a second term, as was customary with his predecessors.
His exit came after the Daily Mail newspaper reported that data provided to the independent chief inspector showed the UK Border Force failed to check the occupants of hundreds of high-risk, private jets arriving at London City Airport.
Mr Neal told the newspaper it was a “scandal and incredibly dangerous” but ministers accused him of putting “misleading information into the public domain”, claiming that a large proportion of flights initially categorised as high-risk should have been classed as low-risk.
