A family firm that donated more than £70,000 to UKIP is “profiteering from misery” by hosting the Government’s controversial migrant barge. Langham Industries owns Portland Port, where the Bibby Stockholm is docked in a deal reported to be worth some £2.5million.
The Langham family owns luxurious properties and has links to high-profile politicians, including Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden. And we can reveal that their business made 19 donations to pro-Brexit party UKIP between 2003 and 2016.
Late founder John Langham was described as an “avid supporter” of UKIP in an obituary in 2017. Now his children, John, Jill and Justin – all directors of the family firm – are set to profit from an 18-month contract with the Home Office to let the Bibby Stockholm berth at Portland, Dorset.
Founder John Langham
Director Justin LanghamWhile Portland Port refuses to reveal how much the Home Office is paying, its website cites berthing fees for a ship the size of the Bibby Stockholm at more than £4,000 a day. In 2011, Portland Port chairman John, 71, invested £3.7million in Grade II* listed country pile Steeple Manor at Wareham, Dorset. Dating to around 1600, it has a pond, tennis court and extensive gardens designed by the landscape architect Brenda Colvin.
The arrangement to host the “prison-like” barge for housing migrants has led some locals to blast the Langhams, who have owned the port since 1997. Portland mayor Carralyn Parkes, 61, said: “I don’t know how John Langham will sleep at night in his luxurious home, with his tennis court and his fluffy bed, when asylum seekers are sleeping in tiny beds on the barge.
'I ventured into Alcatraz after dark and was terrified by what I saw and heard'
Banker Jilly May“I went on the boat and measured the rooms with a tape measure. On average they are about 10ft by 12ft. The bunk bed mattresses are about 6ft long. If you’re taller than 6ft you’re stuffed. The Langham family need to have more humanity. They are only interested in making money. It’s shocking.”
Phil Marfleet, 75, joint secretary of Stand Up To Racism Dorset, added: “They are profiteering from misery. The firm has decided to have several hundred refugees on a ship that’s designed for half of that in what amounts to prison-like conditions. Many refugees who end up on the ship will have fled war zones and been through dangerous journeys to get here. The contrast between the homes the Langhams own and the barge the refugees will be put in is very stark.”
John Langham’s sister Jill May, a former investment banker, is on a Bank of England committee. She was appointed to the Prudential Regulation Committee in 2018 and in 2021 Mr Sunak said he was “very happy” to reappoint her in the role.
The family's country retreat in DorsetMs May was appointed to The Duchy Council in 2022 and reports to Mr Dowden, who is also Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. Bibby Stockholm docked at Portland on July 17 and the first 50 men are due to arrive this week at the earliest.
Eventually, about 500 men are expected to live on board the three-storey barge, which has 222 bedrooms. It is the first time the UK has housed migrants on a berthed vessel.
The Government wants to reduce the cost of housing asylum seekers as there are currently about 51,000 in hotels, costing some £6million a day. The Home Office says migrants’ welfare is of the “utmost priority”. It has denied the barge is like a “floating prison” and said those on board would be “free to come and go as they want”.
'Inhumane cabins' fear
Hundreds seeking refuge in the UK could be housed in “inhumane” Portakabin-style units at the Government’s asylum mega-camp. Campaigners fear prefabs, which have appeared in the past fortnight at RAF Wethersfield, will be used as “modular accommodation”, as cited in a Home Office equality impact statement.
The document says the main camp on the MoD site in Essex includes “six barrack blocks sufficient for around 800 beds” and two office blocks which could be used to accommodate 400 people. But it also states: “There is sufficient hard standing area on the camp to provide a further 500 bedspaces in modular accommodation allowing utilisation of the central catering and welfare facilities to a site total of 1700.”
Earlier this month, 46 asylum seekers were moved onto the site, despite ongoing legal challenges. Lesley Groves, 37, who is campaigning against the use of the old military base, said: “The Home Office have already said they will house asylum seekers in cabins. They just use the term ‘modular accommodation’. These people are fleeing war-torn countries for a better life and we are putting them in cabins. I think it’s inhumane.”
The Home Office said: “Delivering accommodation on surplus military sites will provide cheaper and more orderly, suitable accommodation for those arriving in small boats. Modular buildings will house asylum seekers as they await a decision on their claim, which will help us to reduce the use of hotels.”
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