When Government ministers described the Windrush scandal as “unforeseen”, it is hard to escape the thought that what they meant is that they hadn’t foreseen the press and public reaction.

The Government certainly knew that it was a possibility that people who were here legally might find themselves caught up in their new regime of immigration enforcement, known as the “hostile environment” agenda, and thereby rendered homeless, denied health care or detained. But they hadn’t expected the widespread outrage when the human consequences of their policies began to emerge. Through the lens of a media crisis, they suddenly saw it very differently.