FT Exclusive: Priti Patel asked officials to explore the construction of an asylum processing centre on Ascension Island - a British overseas territory more than 4,000 miles from the UK in the south Atlantic, for migrants coming to Britain. https://www.ft.com/content/ff1dc189-5531-4d81-8d17-7f332596f2cd

Patel also asked to officials to look at the possibility of building an asylum centre on St Helena, where Napoleon Bonaparte was exiled.

But the Foreign Office pushed back - citing the damage on relations with British Overseas Territories. https://www.ft.com/content/ff1dc189-5531-4d81-8d17-7f332596f2cd

One ally of Patel says: “The home secretary would not want something like this.”

But “we have been looking at how other countries have been dealing with this issue. We have been scoping everything. No decisions have been made by ministers.” https://www.ft.com/content/ff1dc189-5531-4d81-8d17-7f332596f2cd