On 12 December 2023, The Guardian reported a set of questions directed at Keir Starmer as part of its coverage of the Rwanda Bill: ‘MPs back Rwanda bill’. As I read through these questions, I couldn’t help but imagine them as part of a Socratic dialogue. Imagine the conversation was not between a modern-day politician and journalists, but between Socrates, the father of Western philosophy, and one of his interlocutors, let’s say a certain Keiros Starmēros. One can hear Socrates asking Keiros:
Q: Do you think a Rwanda-style scheme, sending people abroad and saying they cannot return, is immoral?
Newly discovered Platonic Dialogue
Starmer says he does not think it will work. He says it is very expensive, and the wrong thing to do.