As a convoy of cars behind blacked-out windows sweeps into the Manston immigration processing site, a gaggle of cameras and reporters capture the latest chapter in what has become yet another political saga.

The home secretary, Suella Braverman, has arrived for an unexpected visit, having earlier been to the asylum seeker base in Dover that found itself the target of a petrol-bomb attack at the weekend.

The media hadn't been briefed she would be coming to Thanet, but, as we've seen over recent weeks, it's hard to double-guess the world of politics right now, especially when the hokey-cokey politician is attempting not to lose her grip on the post for the second time in a matter of weeks.

About 15 minutes earlier, North Thanet MP Sir Roger Gale - who earlier this week had questioned his Conservative colleague's handling of the crisis unfolding here - had driven up to and through the entrance gate, no doubt to form part of the welcoming committee. Oh, to be a fly on the wall.

We had arrived at the site earlier in the day; the weather as gloomy as the story unfolding behind the centre's fortified gates.

Lurking out of view - but not out of mind - are close to 4,000 asylum seekers. Most had arrived in this country after making a perilous Channel crossing - paying thousands to gangs who have made a fortune out of people's misery and desire for a better and safer, life.

The site, designed to house no more than 1,600 and for just 24 to 48 hours, is struggling to cope. Families claim they have been stuck there for weeks, in poor conditions. Government inspectors have lambasted the conditions. Political tempers have flared. Whether heads will roll remains to be seen.

Rain hammered down on the windscreens of the handful of media who had descended on the off-chance of a development in a story; to provide their viewers with updates on the latest political burning hot potato; the temperatures outside the centre of the controversy back down to a more seasonal norm for early November.

Reporters, daring to present a live piece to camera, dart out of their cars in full waterproof gear to stand beneath a channel-branded umbrella and provide an update on a story which continues to deny Prime Minister Rishi Sunak any form of honeymoon period.

One TV cameraman confided he arrived on Tuesday and expected to still be keeping a vigil until the weekend. He's lodging at a hotel in Margate for the duration.

If ever you think journalism has a certain level of glamour attached to it, it will be dispelled when sitting or standing in the rain for hours on end on the off-chance of a scoop.

At the gates of the centre itself, there had been a steady stream of cars going in and out of the site. Each were stopped at the barriers and quizzed by security guards in hi-vis jackets. Lamps dotted around the entrance area shed a little additional light to that offered by the heavy, leaden skies which hovered overhead.

Two coaches, both apparently empty, arrived and were waved through. A Maidstone-based events company - specialising in outdoor events; marquees and toilets - was seen coming and going.

The site itself has long been one that has been well protected. For decades it has been in the ownership of the Ministry of Defence - the last pocket of land it still owns after relinquishing its grip on the neighbouring airport in 1999. Many had expected it to sell up for good earlier this year - but for now the land has acquired a new purpose.

As a consequence, the high fencing, much of it covered in plastic sheeting - provides the perfect protection from prying eyes.

The only divide between it and the land owned by those promoting the airport's reopening is a road which, the home secretary may not wish to know, leads directly to neighbouring Margate's refuse tip.

A walk of the perimeter - joined by an ITV cameraman and a Daily Telegraph reporter - provided only the smallest glimpses of what lurks behind; an old hard-standing sports area and additional layers of blocked-out fencing. Guards are scattered around the site.

As I walked along the path between the museums devoted to Manston Airport's proud past and the site, I was drenched by passing cars crashing through deep puddles. It is, in truth, a suitably depressing place for what has become a thoroughly bleak situation.

While I felt the water soak through to my skin, I was acutely aware my plight is nothing compared to what we know is taking place within what was previously the Defence Fire Training and Development Centre.

The people - young, old, men, women - who are kept there are in cramped conditions; many sleeping on floors. Illness - in various forms - has spread through those who huddle against what must seem like a very different temperature to that which they have been used to.

Human misery lurks here, mingling with bureaucratic failures.

While the weather keeps many inside - recent images have shown children playing and anxious families walking within the perimeter - it's hard not to imagine the sound of punctured hopes and dreams from within its confines.

At the heart of the issue is a lack of onward accommodation for these people to go to. Quite who is to blame is currently the topic of considerable debate. Plenty of fingers - including those of Sir Roger - point to the home hecretary. She denies any failings.

Whatever the situation, Manston once again finds itself at the centre of a situation which does little to put the nation in a good light.

At the turn of 2020 and 2021, the neighbouring airport saw its runway transformed into a giant lorry park as traffic snarled up at the ports. Today, it has somehow become the centre of the immigration crisis.

Which is hard to imagine when you approach the site. Thanet's wide open fields surround it offering views across its impressive coastline - interrupted only by the occasional housing development.

Manston's entrance sign declares itself a 'Battle of Britain Village' due to the role it played during the aerial conflict of 1944. Today conflicts from thousands of miles away have prompted a surge in people arriving on its doorstep.

As the day drags on and the home secretary arrives, the handful of media has bloomed into a press pack; long lenses hang, cameras are trained, lights flare as the likes of Sky News and GB News provide live reports from the scene.

The fuss will, inevitably, die down at some point; the political pain it is causing too agonising to be allowed to fester - here at least.

The camera crews and the reporters will leave.

Spare a thought, then, for the many who remain behind the gates. For them, this is not just a news story which will be forgotten in a matter of weeks. It is their lives and their hopes of a fresh start.