It has been a tough week for the Home Secretary Priti Patel who found herself under the cosh over the government’s plans - or rather the lack of them - to permit refugees from Ukraine to come to the UK.

MPs lined up to castigate her for failing to act more speedily in setting out the arrangements that would - or should - be implemented.

Unfortunately for the minister, among them was the veteran Kent MP Sir Roger Gale.

Sir Roger has a particular way of discomforting figures from his own party. Blunt speaking does not do it justice; just the sight of him rising from the green benches seems to send ministers into a tailspin.

The North Thanet MP compared the response of the government to the current crisis to 1972, when the UK moved swiftly to take in thousands of refugees from what was then known as Uganda - with Kent having a major role as the former West Malling airfield was used to land many of the planes.

If, Sir Roger argued, it was possible to do that in 1972, why couldn’t it be done in 2022?

The Home Secretary did her best, which isn’t saying much, and the gist of it was not awfully impressive.

At one point she suggested there was a ‘pop up’ shop to help process visa applications; which brought to mind those stalls in shopping centres trying to convince you to take out a subscription to a certain satellite TV station.

As to where, that - like a lot of other things she said - was confusing. The pop-up visa shop was, MPs were told, to be in Lille. Which wasn't exactly convenient for those refugees who had struggled to get to Calais under the misapprehension that they could apply for visas there.

And the Home Secretary had some positive news to impart: the government had set up a visa centre in Calais. The only issue was it hadn’t and Sir Roger was back the following day to highlight this, saying that under different circumstances her misleading claim would have been a resigning matter.

Of course, we have become accustomed to ministers blithely ignoring such calls even when the evidence that they might have transgressed the code of conduct is compelling.

Sir Roger didn’t pull the trigger this time but you sensed he was tempted to.

He was not the only Kent MP to be somewhat underwhelmed by the government’s response to the refugee crisis: three - Ashford MP Damian Green; Chatham and Aylesford MP Tracey Crouch and Tunbridge Wells MP Greg Clark - signed a joint letter from about 40 MPs pressing the Prime Minister to act “decisively” on the issue.

This rather implied that they thought he had; or perhaps might be tempted to - although whether you can plan on being indecisive is another matter.

The febrile mood generated by the ‘partygate’ scandal has undoubtedly been dampened by the invasion of Ukraine. But it will at some point have to return and be dealt with.

For the moment arguments around whether a bowl of crisps and a bottle of wine amounted to a social gathering seem rather inconsequential when considered against the harrowing images of Ukrainians fleeing the country and buildings shelled out of existence.

The government is treading cautiously when it comes to a resettlement scheme for refugees from Ukraine. It is not yet clear what the arrangements will be under the plans for them to be ‘sponsored’ but reports suggest it will involve individuals, charities, businesses and community groups registering to offer accommodation and employment via a hotline and webpage.

For local authorities who were quick to respond to the Afghan crisis, the issue is not that they don’t want to help out but one of capacity and concerns that some of those who fled the Taliban regime continue to be accommodated in hotels.