If it had not been for the timely coincidence of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in London, and it being tasked with deciding the succession of Queen Elizabeth at the head of the network, the UK Government may just about have got away with its appalling treatment of the Windrush generation residents of the UK. By now they are acknowledged as ‘being British’ by the Prime Minister. Just two weeks ago there was no talk of such a recognition.

To the contrary, members of that generation and their descendants were treated with extraordinary disdain and inhumanity, driven by an explicit policy of creating a hostile environment for anyone living in the UK deemed to be without leave to remain, i.e. for whom a case for expulsion could be constructed. There does not seem to be any doubt over the ministerial lead on this policy, driven by the then Home Secretary, and current Prime Minister Theresa May.

Despite formal doubts voiced in official reviews of the accuracy of targeting and measurable impact of the practical elements of the policy, Mrs May’s successor at the Home Office Amber Rudd apparently had nothing better to do than to privately soak Mrs May’s prime ministerial hallways with effusions of loyalty on the issue.

With a few days to spare before the CHOGM Caribbean leaders first unsuccessfully, but then aided by growing public outcry, eventually secured a meeting with the PM on the issue of the treatment of Windrush generation. We know little or nothing about the message they delivered, but it cannot have been a comfortable one.

It evident that when devising the policy, Mrs May did neither care about the Windrush people, nor about the loyalty which the British people by and large feel for the people who were invited to help the UK get back on its feet again after the war (and as Commonwealth subjects had done so much to help win the war in the first place). The assumption that the wave of anti-immigrant sentiment, especially if targeting people of visible difference by skin colour, religion, language or other easily detectable different culturable habits, would remain general, proved wrong. At least for the Windrush generation, people in the UK discovered their compassion. They are very much to be lauded for standing up to their own government.

The question though is whether the public discomfort in the UK would have been enough. It is entirely conjecture, but effectively the message first from the Caribbean leaders, and then potentially many others in the CHOGM may have been clear on two points:

First, if the UK continue to treat Commonwealth migrants with good historical and legal reasons to arrive and live in Britain with such disdain, the UK could very well forget the idea of looking to the Commonwealth as a more or less gilded gate leading to new opportunities post BREXIT. While the Indian Prime Minister Modi attends for the first time in a long period the CHOGM himself, India has always been very clear that there is no automatic welcome for UK plans for greater trade with the most prosperous of Commonwealth countries, unless the UK is ready to accept a freer movement of people. The point that such freedom of movement plays such a big role for the EU seems to be lost on the UK government. So far India has not been impressed by the British restrictiveness on the issue of study and work opportunities for Indian citizens.

Second, with all due respect for the leadership of the British Royal Family of the Commonwealth, CHOGM participants may also have signalled to the PM that continued leadership of the network by a future British Monarch needs to be earned through integrity in UK dealings with the Commonwealth countries. Prince Charles’ personal credentials as a bridgebuilder and integrator will not necessarily have been enough to secure the succession at the head of the network. The symbolic and very public apology by the PM for the mistreatment of the Windrush generation and the setting aside of any future threats was the least required to soften the Commonwealth leaders’ stance, and who knows, even keep the network alive overall. After all, what is the point of sticking together if the mother country treats everybody else with disdain?

So for the Windrush generation, the proximity of the CHOGM, the lack of foresight of the government when applying blanket ‘hostile environment’ policies to people from other parts of the world than the UK, and the indignation of the UK population over the treatment of cherished and long standing community members saved the day. The climbdown of the PM on Windrush may also have saved the Commonwealth from further erosion of its anyway thinning internal ‘glue’, at least for now.

However, the episode casts a stark light on the utilitarian attitude of the current UK government to migrants. These are only welcome when they serve UK purposes or ‘fit in’ in some idealised image of British cultural homogeneity. At present future Commonwealth trading interests are too important to pick a bone about the Windrush generation, and it is numerically a problem of a lower order. The discussions with India are likely to be even more difficult than those with the EU. At present, anyone with a migration history in the UK, or who plans to make a home in this country, will need to look hard and fast at how it can trust a government which seems bent on exclusion.