LBC host speechless as immigrant admits to 'playing the system' live on air

One listener sparked outrage on the air when he admitted to "playing the system" after moving to the UK with his family. During Monday's visit (May 12) to the political programme, Tom Swarbrick welcomed listeners back as he discussed the biggest stories hitting the headlines.

This included the arrest of a man suspected of arson attacks linked to PM Keir Starmer and Donald Trump's arrival in Saudi Arabia for first major trip of his second term. But things took an unexpected turn when the 38-year-old broadcaster welcomed a listener onto the show who recently emigrated from Zimbabwe to the UK. He explained to the radio presenter how he managed to move to the UK on a visa organised by a fake company owned by his cousin.

Three months after moving to the UK, the listener managed to find better paid work in a bank after his first job in the care sector didn't work out. He told Tom: "I only worked in the care sector for like three months and then I quit, I went to look for a job elsewhere.

"I worked in construction, but it didn't work for me, I worked for Amazon as well, and that didn't work for me. And then I found a job in the bank and I'm living my life, effectively."

Confused by his admission, Tom probed: "And how many people in the care home you were in were in a similar situation to you?" The listener explained: "So first of all, I have my two sisters and two brothers, so we have five effectively coming from the same family in Zimbabwe and we have all moved [to the UK].

"My sister has just got a job as well with one of the councils, which I'm not going to mention, and my other brother has gone into the construction industry where he's working."

The host then quizzed the guest on how he managed to afford the cost of moving overseas through a job in the care sector. He asked: "And do you mind me asking how you afforded it? How did you afford to do it because the wages are pretty notoriously bad in the care sector. So, how did you fund your way through it?"

Jamie admitted: "It was very easy. So, I had my cousin, who was here [in the UK], and she's the one who helped us to set up a company out of Zimbabwe and that's how we managed to come here.

"Actually, her care company is not working. It's not there as I'm speaking right now, it doesn't exist. So, she just helped us to move to the UK." It was at this point that Tom interrupted the guest as he called him out for "playing the system" when he emigrated to the UK.

He fumed: "So, hang on Jamie, woah, woah, woah. So your family member set up a company that acted as a provider of carers through which they recruited you from abroad and you went into a care home for precisely three-and-a-half minutes or whatever, and then looked for other work?"

Jamie bluntly replied: "Yes" as Tom went on: "So you manipulated the system for you or you feel like you used the system for its best effects for you?" Which he confirmed: "Absolutely."

It didn't take long before listeners flooded to X - formerly known as Twitter - to share their horror online. One user fumed: "This is one of the reasons why after importing 185k foreign 'carers' (plus all of their dependants) we still have 130k vacancies in the care sector."

Another agreed: "Pro immigrationists, are you not seeing yet how we are being taken for fools and our laws and our generosity are mocked? This all has to end. Of course it won't be pleasant. Deportations never are. But the law should be enforced properly."

Meanwhile, others were baffled as to why the listener would confess to his actions live on the radio. One user penned: "He admitted his cousin set up a dodgy company to get 4 of his siblings over because they're the easiest visas to get, then quit care work. Admitted it on national radio."

Another agreed: "Open proof of abuse, this person should have been instantly deported instead of shopping around for another job and then bringing theyr brothers & sisters over; complete madness."