Auntie Jacqui, Uncle Joe

By Alan Tyers

Jacqui Smith is nothing like Stalin. She doesn’t have a moustache, for starters…

She says that she didn’t know the police were going to arrest a political rival, which means that either a) the Home Secretary doesn’t know what the police are up to, which is bad or b) the Home Secretary is lying, which is also bad.

The plot thickens further with the information that Damian Green, the shadow immigration spokesman, was cuffed by nine (!) counter-terrorism police, despite the Met saying that there was no counter-terrorism angle to the inquiry. MPs also want to know why the Speaker, Michael Martin, let the police search Green’s office in Parliament.

What Mr Green has allegedly done – encouraging a civil servant to leak information to him – has been a key function of the Opposition for generations. In a country without constitution, such informal checks and balances are vital to preserving democracy.

Once members of the Opposition start getting arrested for trying to hold the Government to account, we are on a slippery slope.

Not that the Home Secretary or another senior figure ordered Green’s arrest. We know this because the Home Secretary said so and Mr Jack Straw supported her, too. Fair enough, they have a job to do: running the country.

But just because information might not be helpful to the Government, it doesn’t mean that journalists and the Opposition shouldn’t see it. That really would be Stalinist.

Comments

[Anon]

we must stand together to defend human rights and democracy, to say firmly to Brown that enough is enough.'

[Jesse]

It's not so long back that the labour party wanted to bring in monitoring/recording all e-mails and phone calls (I wonder whose in particular?)

Why is this so right for the labour party and not for the tory party?

[Jesse]

If the labour government first of all opened the gates so to speak to binge drinking and then when people took advantage the same labour government sets the police on to these people, isn't this akin to politically beating people up?

[Silly not Stupid]

If Jackie Smith and Gordon Brown had already sanctioned a search would the Police really need a warrant?

[flip-flop-floozy]

And I wish the government would stop trying to divert attention from the real issue by having a go at Boris. He did nothing wrong. He is entitled to critisise the actions of the police. (It transpires they didn't even have a warrant) This government is so corrupt it takes your breath away.

[Jesse]

I think it's time these labour lunatics were put back in the asylum

[Silly not Stupid]

John | 03 December 2008 at 18:41

The point is that you are forgetting those in power with their own agenda.

Like I said, you don't have to be doing anything wrong, you just get caught up in things. They just might dislike the way you walk or talk.

The best way is to stop it before it starts.

It happens at all levels of society.

[John]

"Jesus Christ was crucified just for not doing nothing wrong."

Well thats how the story goes anyway. Its not the fact that the police have tasers that should worry people, its the policies behind that governing who gets them, what they have to do to be able to possess them, how their usage is governed and monitored - basic stuff to rule out gross negligence from coppers. The way you make it out is that policemen are going to be tasoring all and sundry.

People tend to be making mountains out of molehills due to yet again, media furore. Do people want the police to do their job or not? 99% of the time the police do a great job, its mostly the policies and back office government behind them that muck things up (case in point the MP being arrested)

[Silly not Stupid]

Dear Jason | 03 December 2008 at 11:31

The times I have heard this phrase and each time it really grates.

'I'm not worried about the police having tasers (if im not doing anything wrong I wont be affected'

Jesus Christ must have said 'I'm not worried about Pontious Pilot, if I'm not doing anything wrong I wont be affected'

but as we all know, Jesus Christ was crucified just for not doing nothing wrong.

Get smart, you don't have to do anything wrong.

[Smiffy]

Ms Smith knew all about the planned raid on Green's office. Of course she did. There will be not one shred of evidence to prove it. They will have been very careful.. but she not only knew (and so did Brown) but she requested it. Put her on Jeremy Kyles' lie detector - then we'll see!

[John]

Bob, can you reccommend excactly what Nationalist Party you suggest we vote for? as I am quite worried because Nationalist parties havent been known for their love of freedom and human rights.

As for the issue at hand, arent we getting a bit ahead of ourselves? Its tragic that whenever an atrocity occurs theres always a huge public outcry of "we should have been better prepared" or "this should have been prevented" however when a government tries to implement these measures theres a further outcry of "you cant do that, it goes against our liberties".

But does it really? Is there going to be a huge change in what information can be found out about us if we have ID cards? is it any different from the plethora of cards and subscriptions we already have?

Can we legitimately complain about the police not having the powers to do their job then complain again when they are given these powers?

Im not worried about the police having tasers (if im not doing anything wrong I wont be affected) nor ID cards (yes there is the old Nazi stigma perfectly embodied by Jason but thats it), what I'm more worried about is how the Government handle this data, afterall theyre cocking up on something as simple as data handling by palming it off to the lowest bidder and there's no excuse for that.

This country has been eroded by successive governments (the old adage of "it doesnt matter who you vote for, the Government always gets in" springs to mind)

What we need to do is make the Government aware on where they are ballsing up this country (not on blogs like these or facebook where noone of importance will ever look) but through continuous letters to Government and more peaceful demonstrations. And if that doesnt work vote for someone else, just dont expect much different from the other parties.

[Jason]

"You vill show me your papers or you vill be shot with ze Taser!!!!

[Silly not Stupid]

What about these High Visibiity Bibs then?

Gordon Brown is getting out of control himself.

He should be the first to wear one.

[Equilibrium]

It has been announced today that in the Queens speech Gordon Brown is planning to crack down on low level crime, and binge drinking, and police are set to get powers to stop people on the street and demand they supply proof of identity - even if there are no grounds to suspect they have committed an offence. Will this new power be used to control low level crime and binge drinking??? or is it another nail in the coffin of civil liberties.

[nicky]

George Orwell was right then!

[Mike]

I'm afraid you all should have seen this one coming!! Blair started a police state policy right from the start and Brown is happy to let it develop further as long as it dosen't tarnish his door step.
Three terms of any government is two too many, even the Conservatives thought they could do no wrong under Maggie!!
Best thing anyone can do is vote for the right party or emigrate and leave the crap rulers with the crap society they've built!!

[Dave]

Mr John Whitaker Straw , jewish , communist.

The answer is there somewhere.

[Peter]

Alan - are you sure Jacqui doesn't have a moustache? Lots of ladies of her age do, you know.

(I like the thought of her in jackboots!! And those glasses ....!!)

[B Wylie]

To win one election was amazing for Labour. To win three in a row made them believe they would be there for life irrespective of what they did and their motto became "Government at any cost". We are now really beginning to see the cost. It is perhaps unfortunate that the Scots, and many of our Northern citizens, will continue to vote for these incompetents as a tradition despite the fact that real Labour disappeared long ago and they have a new dogma which despises excellence, law and order and any other values in a rational society. The Conservatives, with their weak opposition must take some of the blame for what is happening now in every branch of government. I wonder what the incoherent Scot who passes for the Speaker will have to say. No doubt he will absolve any of his colleagues, and himself, of all blame for destroying the last vestige of Prliamentary privelige something that has been with us for centuries but, of course, LAbour pays no heed to the warnings of the past. Both Blair and Brown demanded change and reform, they have got it beyond their wildest dreams. I have never hated anyone as it never seemed worth the effort, I could make an exception of Brown and his crew for what they done, and continue to do, to my country

[Zarg from Tharg]

Nu Lab scumsuckers.

[BOB]

Each and every one of you should hang your head in shame who has voted for the same three card trick for the past seventy years .
You same people despise me and my kind for being Nationalists . welcome to the future , welcome to 1984 , you deserve everything whats coming to you , how much of a warning did you need .

The victors of war write the history books.
The communist teachers drip feed your children on daily basis .
The left run media spill out the bile .
What do you do ? You take it up the ar se because you are afraid.
Throw off the shackles , find your voices , VOTE NATIONALIST.

[Equilibrium]

Tony Blair started building his police state from the day he was elected, and Brown has done nothing to dismantle it. Remember the army riding shotgun on the petrol tankers, the anti capitalist protesters being coralled and held in the roads surrounding trafalgar square, and the poor old chap manhandled from the labour party conference for daring to criticise Blair. We are all culpable in allowing it to happen. Too many people have been sucked in by the terrorism scaremongering, and allowed the government to erode our civil liberties without a whimper. We now have a DNA database, isometric ID cards for foreigners (which has been put on hold as a compulsory card for all of us, but can soon be reinstated) CCTV the length and breadth of the country, Sat nav technology that can pin point your precise location, armed police slaughtering people with impunity, and Tasers for every jolly beat bobby, and now whistleblowers and politicians being arrested for passing on information that we have the right to see.1984 arrived while we slept.

[Silly not Stupid]

I can't take this lot in the Government anymore.

Anybody who votes Labour in the next election has to be on a suicide mission.

The Home Secretary who doesn't know what the Home Office or Police or counter-terrorism police are up to should be summarily dismissed and be looking for another job.

What does she think she is supposed to be doing???

[Andy]

The Man Of Straw has said that Britain could only be called a police state if the police had been acting on the instructions of Government Ministers. This is the slithery sort of response typical of Straw because he knows very well that Ministers need to do no such thing. Labour has installed its placemen in all public agencies over the past 11 years precisely so that the agencies can be left alone to do Labour’s work without the need for specific “instructions” from Ministers.

It is the classic machinery of a police state and a clear sign of how the country has been corrupted by these people over the past decade.

Jackboots Jacqui and Straw are both lightweights who are not dangerous in themselves. The danger is that they front an organisation based on the political philosophy that the best form of government is total control of people's lives by the state, and anyone who opposes that view is by definition an enemy of the state.

With that kind of mindset, it is not surprising that they have difficulty in accepting that there is a difference between what is good for their government and what is good for a free society.

[John]

It all does seem a bit weird, I dont all the facts or anything about the case so cant really comment on specifics but I thoroughly support the government on this new scheme, after all he is a politician so will undeniably be up to something worth being locked up for, I just hope the police dont stop with just opposition members and lock up the rest of the politicians as well, maybe we'd finally have some peace and quiet