It is instructive that the first major policy announcement of the Conservative election campaign is on immigration. Boris Johnson has made it one of his hot topics, having already said he

wants to introduce an Australian-style, points-based immigration system. But today’s statement is political cynicism at its worst. It was Priti Patel, the Home Secretary, who came out with

it. “We will reduce immigration overall,” she said, “while being more open and flexible to the highly skilled people we need, such as scientists and doctors.” “This can only happen if people

vote for a Conservative majority government so we can leave the EU with a deal.” For good measure, Patel salted her statement with a remark that a Corbyn government would be lax on

the need to recruit skilled personnel, it would simply stick with the immigration system we already have. On that front, it’s working. And as the Brexit add-on, many scientists and

scientific bodies in the UK have made it clear that, contrary to Patel’s assertions, leaving the EU would reduce Britain’s status as a global scientific centre. The best people would go

elsewhere. This immigration announcement is one thing disguised as another. It has nothing to do with the NHS, with scientists or any of that. It has everything to do with knocking out Nigel

Farage’s Brexit Party challenge. Farage’s promise that Brexit Party candidates will not contest seats that are currently held by the Conservative Party came dressed up as a conciliatory

gesture — it was, he said, a “unilateral pact” (that sinister phrase). But this pact was nothing of the sort, and it certainly wasn’t conciliatory. The nature of a pact is that it benefits

both sides, but it’s hard to see what if anything the Conservatives have to gain from it. In order to win a majority at the next election, Johnson must win more MPs than he currently has —

he must, in other words, win in precisely those seats where Farage’s candidates will be standing. Farage’s decision to contest these seats is the worst possible outcome for Johnson and he

knows it, because these Brexit Party candidates will mop up the right wing votes that Johnson desperately needs. This is why today the country will be treated to another round of the British

political class screaming about immigration. None of this is being done out of any genuine desire to address the issue of immigration. It’s all about base political advantage. Johnson is

simply trying to outflank Farage on the right. Unless he can do that, he’s sunk. But there is no substance to today’s statement. There’s no detailed argument, or extended reasoning to go

with it — we have yet to see the Conservative Party’s manifesto. All we have is a bald expression of distaste for immigration — and by association immigrants. A more responsible approach

would have been to wait for the manifesto and to unveil something more nuanced. Instead we have an exercise in signaling. Johnson is making it clear to the right of his party and to those

who in the privacy of the polling booth might just opt for Farage, that he understands them — that he is their man. Which is a shame, because immigration is such an important subject —

Britain needs more immigrants. We need them desperately. We have an ageing population, a shifting dependency ratio of retired people to young workers, huge mounting public sector pensions

and creaking public services. All of these problems would be, in part, alleviated by importing a young vigorous workforce from overseas. But in an election campaign where the government

choses to make such clumsy interventions as the one we’ve seen today, there can be no room to discuss these things. They are drowned out beneath the slurry of Twitter acrimony that will no

doubt descend. There are real questions that the country needs to face on immigration. But these will get lost in the din.