You have an appointment with the Doctor
May 6th, 2006Although Justin and Ben have both expressed their deep fears over the fact that John Reid is the new Home Secretary, I have to say I’m not that worried. Yes, he looks and sounds like someone who was mistakenly released under the Good Friday Agreement, but given the current choice of Nu Lab politicians, better a blunt and pugnacious Home Secretary than a scaremongering headline-grabber like Clarke, or a totally inept bureaucrat such as Hoon or Hewitt, or someone oily and deceptive, like, well most of the rest of the Labour Cabinet.
Reid has this reputation as a “bruiser” and “fixer” but to me it seems it comes from his internal control of departments and the civil servants beneath him, not the country at large. While I don’t think we’re witnessing the dawn of a new liberal age, with Reidy bravely standing up for the rights of terrorist suspects, protests etc., to me there is nothing that suggests he is any more illiberal than any of his immediate predecessors. It’s not fair to pick on him specifically when the entire Project seems to be united in its illiberalism and contempt for the electorate.