Fury as fewer than half of Home Office HQ staff at their desks last week despite raging migration crisis

FEWER than half of Home Office HQ staff were at their desks last week despite the raging migration crisis.

The department was the emptiest in Whitehall with just 47 per cent of desks occupied.

The Cabinet Office had 89 per cent of their workstations manned and the Ministry of Defence had 86 per cent.

James Cleverly’s office arguably has the most on its plate, with migration a top priority.

PM Rishi Sunak has made a £1,000 bet with Piers Morgan that flights to Rwanda will take off by the next election.

To grip Whitehall’s working-from-home epidemic, desk-shy officials were last year ordered to spend at least 60 per cent of their time in the office.

Mandarins sent out an edict to Whitehall staff in November, hailing the benefits of “collaboration, innovation and fostering a sense of community”.

John O’Connell, of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said civil servants need to return to the office.

He said: “Bureaucrats in pyjamas need to be told some home truths.

“Too many departments sit empty, while performance continues to slide.”

Tory MP Jacob Rees-Mogg told The Sun: “The Home Office fails to remove illegal migrants.

“Until it succeeds, perhaps it would help if people came into work rather than idling at home.”

A Home Office spokesman said of data at their HQ: “It is for staff at 2 Marsham St where less than ten per cent of Home Office staff are located.”