David Cameron was in Vietnam when the Calais situation escalated to a crisis. Put on the spot, he said that the root cause was “a swarm of people coming across the Mediterranean”, and was immediately criticised from all sides for his use of language.Yvette Cooper, the Shadow Home Secretary, wrote in a blog for the Huffington Post that “People – the vast majority of whom will have travelled thousands of miles – are not a ‘swarm’. They are sons, daughters, fathers, mothers – many desperate enough to risk their lives.” Meanwhile, Trevor Willmott, Bishop of Dover, described the “swarm” comment as “a very unhelpful phrase”. The Refugee Council condemned it as “irresponsible, dehumanising lan