Is Dr Reid Showing Blair Who's Boss?
The Home Secretary's reshuffle is, as far as I can see, somewhat unprecedented. Normally Ministerial appointments are the Prime Minister's remit. There are two possible reasons:
1. The Home Office are really starting to panic
2. Dr Reid is imposing his own authority over the Prime Minister, trying to show that he will decide for himself who does what in his Department
Of course it could be a combination of both of these. I am sure there will be statement from the Prime Ministers Official Spokesman saying that the PM fully supports the reshuffle, but he has no option but to say that.
The state of the Home Office is perhaps a good example of the conflict that the New Labour project creates within Labour politicians. Tough on Crime is the saleable message, one the public can swallow, but it goes totally against the instincts of left-wing thinkers who believe in a somewhat softer approach. The result of this is right-wing rhetoric, left-wing implementation, a totally confused Department and an electorate that feels lied to.
1. The Home Office are really starting to panic
2. Dr Reid is imposing his own authority over the Prime Minister, trying to show that he will decide for himself who does what in his Department
Of course it could be a combination of both of these. I am sure there will be statement from the Prime Ministers Official Spokesman saying that the PM fully supports the reshuffle, but he has no option but to say that.
The state of the Home Office is perhaps a good example of the conflict that the New Labour project creates within Labour politicians. Tough on Crime is the saleable message, one the public can swallow, but it goes totally against the instincts of left-wing thinkers who believe in a somewhat softer approach. The result of this is right-wing rhetoric, left-wing implementation, a totally confused Department and an electorate that feels lied to.
posted by Martin Curtis at 6:02 PM
1 Comments:
Perfect summing up in the last paragraph. I was out with some former socialists last night who "couldn't understand" the mess in prisons. I made it clear that my opinion was that Labour don't really believe in punishing criminals so although the prison population has doubled they will not build more prisons (that would be right wing) so what we get is record reoffending rates, open/safety valve prisons and general chaos. Marvellous.
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