The Home Office last night suddenly postponed the deportation of a 7-year-old boy and his HIV-infected parents to Malawi after protests by a former permanent secretary of the department (Richard Ford writes).

Plans to fly the family to Nairobi en route to Malawi were abandoned only hours before the plane was due to leave at 8pm. The family spent the night at Tinsley House removal centre near Gatwick airport, unaware of whether the Home Office will attempt to deport them today.

Last night’s decision came only hours after Martin Narey, a former second permanent secretary in the Home Office, protested that deportation would in effect condemn the boy to death. Mr Narey, now chief executive of Barnardo’s, said Du-misani Lungu’s parents — Caroline Manchinjili and Brian Lungu — were likely to die soon, leaving him an orphan facing almost certain death in the southern African country.

Mr Narey said asylum tribunals took standards of care into account when considering whether to deport failed asylum-seekers, but while HIV treatment was available in Malawi it was so limited as to be virtually nonexistent.

“The Home office should be very clear: this 7-year-old boy will watch his mum and dad die and he will die because of that policy,” he said.

The family sought asylum in 2005, citing political oppression. Both parents are in the final stages of Aids-related ill-nesses and their son is feared to be HIV-positive.

The Home Office refused to comment.