Tony Blair aides wanted asylum holding camp on Scottish island
Tony Blair’s government considered setting up a holding camp on the Isle of Mull to drive down the number of asylum seekers entering the UK, according to newly released official papers.
The plan, put forward by one of the then-Labour prime minister’s closest aides, was part of a “nuclear option” that would see people who arrived in the UK by unauthorised means detained on the Scottish island before being removed.
Drawn up just months before the US-UK invasion of Iraq, the scheme also called for the creation of regional “safe havens” in countries such as Turkey and South Africa, where refugees who could not be returned to their own country could be sent.
Although the plan was not taken up, it echoes the debate still taking place more than 20 years later around Rishi Sunak’s plans to deport people to Rwanda, with officials in Blair’s government also discussing denouncing the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) to get the scheme going.
The proposals, contained in files released by the National Archives in Kew, west London, reflect Mr Blair’s frustration that “ever-tougher controls” in northern France had not had an impact on the number of asylum claims – which reached a new monthly high of 8,800 in October 2002.
“We must search out even more radical measures,” Mr Blair scrawled in a handwritten note.
Following a brainstorming session with senior officials and advisers, the prime minister’s chief of staff, Jonathan Powell, produced a paper entitled Asylum: The Nuclear Option, in which he questioned whether the UK needed an asylum system at all.
Mr Powell said because the UK was an island, people who had arrived by sea had already passed through a safe country “so in fact what we should be looking at is a very simple system that immediately returns people who arrive here illegally”.
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Rwanda: PM avoids damaging defeat but braces for showdown next year
He said that officials in the office of the attorney general, Lord Goldsmith, had suggested setting up a camp on the Isle of Mull in the Inner Hebrides where people could be detained until they could be removed.
Mr Powell said the government would have to legislate to allow for the removal of people despite the risk of persecution.
“We would like to extend this to return any illegal immigrant regardless of the risk that they might suffer human or degrading treatment,” he advised.
He conceded the plan would be challenged by the ECHR in Strasbourg but said this would take two to three years and in the meantime “we could send a strong message into the system about our new tough stance”.
He said if the government lost in Strasbourg “we would denounce the ECHR and immediately re-ratify with a reservation on Article 3 (the right not to be tortured)”.
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Home Office lawyers warned that the measures would fall foul of the Geneva Convention on refugees.
An exasperated Mr Blair scrawled “just return them”, adding: “This is precisely the point. We must not allow the ECHR to stop us dealing with it.”
The discussion draws parallels with Mr Sunak’s flagship Rwanda plan.
The deportation scheme has cost £290m despite no flights taking off due to a series of legal challenges. Mr Sunak has put forward legislation to address this but it has caused a war among his own MPs, with Tories on the right wanting it to go further and those on the moderate wing keen to stick to the UK’s international obligations.
Blair supported return of Elgin Marbles to Greece
Echoing another debate that is still ongoing, other cabinet papers released today reveal Mr Blair was keen to return the Elgin Marbles to Greece in an attempt to boost support for London’s bid to host the Olympic Games in 2012.
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The Elgin Marbles and Greece’s fight to get them back.
Number 10 advisers believed the Marbles – also known as the Parthenon Sculptures – could be a “powerful bargaining chip” but warned any attempt to reach a sharing agreement with Athens could face stiff resistance due to the “blinkered intransigence” of the British Museum, where they have been housed since the 19th century.
Greece has long demanded the return of the marbles but the debate spiralled into a diplomatic row last month after Mr Sunak ditched a planned meeting with his Greek counterpart Kyriakos Mitsotakis, who he accused of grandstanding over the issue.
The ancient sculptures were removed by Lord Elgin from occupied Athens in the early 19th century and are now owned by the British Museum – with Downing Street said to be opposed to any sort of loan agreement that would allow their return.
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Number 10 ‘lost credibility under Alistair Campbell’
Alastair Campbell was Blair’s top aide for most of his premiership
Also in the cabinet office files were revelations about the perception of Mr Blair’s combative communications chief Alastair Campbell, who spent nine years as the former PM’s closet aide.
After Mr Campbell resigned in 2003, Mr Blair was warned by remaining advisers that the Number 10 press office had lost “all credibility.. as a truthful operation” under his reign and that the prime minister’s own authority was being undermined because Downing Street was seen as a “politically-dominated spin machine”.
The warnings followed a series of bruising rows between the Labour government and the BBC over its coverage of the US-UK invasion of Iraq in 2003.
Groups tackling AI-generated child sexual abuse material could be given more powers to protect children online under a proposed new law.
Organisations like the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF), as well as AI developers themselves, will be able to test the ability of AI models to create such content without breaking the law.
That would mean they could tackle the problem at the source, rather than having to wait for illegal content to appear before they deal with it, according to Kerry Smith, chief executive of the IWF.
The IWF deals with child abuse images online, removing hundreds of thousands every year.
Ms Smith called the proposed law a “vital step to make sure AI products are safe before they are released”.
An IWF analyst at work. Pic: IWF
How would the law work?
The changes are due to be tabled today as an amendment to the Crime and Policing Bill.
The government said designated bodies could include AI developers and child protection organisations, and it will bring in a group of experts to ensure testing is carried out “safely and securely”.
The new rules would also mean AI models can be checked to make sure they don’t produce extreme pornography or non-consensual intimate images.
“These new laws will ensure AI systems can be made safe at the source, preventing vulnerabilities that could put children at risk,” said Technology Secretary Liz Kendall.
“By empowering trusted organisations to scrutinise their AI models, we are ensuring child safety is designed into AI systems, not bolted on as an afterthought.”
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AI abuse material on the rise
The announcement came as new data was published by the IWF showing reports of AI-generated child sexual abuse material have more than doubled in the past year.
According to the data, the severity of material has intensified over that time.
The most serious category A content – images involving penetrative sexual activity, sexual activity with an animal, or sadism – has risen from 2,621 to 3,086 items, accounting for 56% of all illegal material, compared with 41% last year.
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The data showed girls have been most commonly targeted, accounting for 94% of illegal AI images in 2025.
The NSPCC called for the new laws to go further and make this kind of testing compulsory for AI companies.
“It’s encouraging to see new legislation that pushes the AI industry to take greater responsibility for scrutinising their models and preventing the creation of child sexual abuse material on their platforms,” said Rani Govender, policy manager for child safety online at the charity.
“But to make a real difference for children, this cannot be optional.
“Government must ensure that there is a mandatory duty for AI developers to use this provision so that safeguarding against child sexual abuse is an essential part of product design.”
Coinbase Business, a new business platform from major US crypto exchange Coinbase, has launched in Singapore, marking the company’s first international expansion.
After introducing Coinbase Business in June, Coinbase has rolled out the platform in Singapore as its first international market outside of the US, the company announced on Wednesday.
Targeting startups and small businesses, Coinbase Business provides an “all-in-one crypto operating platform” that allows users to send and receive payments in Coinbase-backed stablecoin USDC (USDC), manage crypto assets and automate financial workflows.
“By leveraging the speed and stability of digital dollars like USDC, we offer businesses a platform that enables seamless and secure trading, with instant settlement, minimal fees, and zero chargebacks,” the company said.
Strategic cooperation with Standard Chartered
Coinbase is rolling out the service in cooperation with Standard Chartered, its local banking partner, to enable Singapore dollar transfers for both retail and business clients.
With Standard Chartered’s support, Coinbase Business provides Singapore businesses with a suite of tools, including crypto trading, global payouts, payment links with a 1% transaction fee and asset management with rewards on USDC holdings.
Coinbase Business’s launch in Singapore builds on Coinbase’s long-standing collaboration with the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), the country’s financial regulator.
In October 2023, MAS granted Coinbase a Major Payment Institution (MPI) license, allowing the exchange to expand its digital payment token services to both individual and institutional clients in Singapore.
Related: Coinbase debuts token sale platform with Monad launch
Last month, Coinbase announced participation in the MAS BLOOM (Borderless, Liquid, Open, Online, Multi-currency) program, which aims to expand financial settlement capabilities by enabling the use of tokenized bank liabilities and regulated stablecoins.
“This collaboration with the MAS demonstrates how we are actively working to build the regulated, compliant infrastructure that underpins the next era of finance,” Coinbase noted.
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