Thought exercise:

You're a UK Diplomat.

Asylum seekers currently in France, where their presence has at times been just as politicised, are trying to leave France to head to the UK.

Your job is to convince the French to help you thwart them doing so.

What's your pitch? https://twitter.com/pritipatel/status/1291713938355347456

Note:
- Asylum seekers are not legally obligated to seek refuge in the first country they get to, and transit through a safe country is not grounds for refusing asylum under the UN Refugee Convention.

Ok, to answer some points below:

- Yes, the UK could pull out of the UN Refugee Convention, but that's not the current policy of HMG and diplomats have to work within that.

- Having a UK warship tow a boat to France without the consent of the French is an act of war.

Note:
- In case this needs to be clarified, but I'm not endorsing the Home Secretary's comments or the UK's approach to asylum seekers. My personal views on this are very different.

I'm simply trying to illustrate the difficulty inherent in her call to secure French cooperation.