Jul 03 2007
Miss Smith’s first statement as Home Secretary
It certainly looked different. The Home Secretary was attentively supported by the Prime Minister, the Chancellor, the Foreign Secretary and a bench full of other Ministers.?? Under Blair statements were usually made, if at all, by senior Ministers with just a handful of junior supporters and an otherwise empty bench.
It didn’t sound so different. The Home Secretary did not tell us anything we had not already in the newspapers, and understandably glossed over the most interesting bits about likely suspects by telling us it was a fast moving police investigation that we need to leave to them.
There was good news, in that there were no knee jerk responses in the form of new laws or further losses of civil lliberties. It was all done calmly, with the Opposition largely taking its cue from David Davis who loved bombed his opponent on her first outing.
What was worrying was the lack of real thought or new direction over the terrorist issue, despite having an intelligent and well educated new woman in the job. Her inexperience shone ??through in Commons matters, stripping David Davis of his Privy Counsellorship,?? endowing a wayward Liberal Democract with one he does not have and following it up by calling a Conservative MP her "honourable friend" even though he showed no signs of crossing the floor. More importantly, when I asked her to explain the difference in approach to air and tube travel she lamely replied that they had to strengthen security at airports because that was where the last attack had come. Surely what matters is where the next attack may be?
I agreed with her when she said we must show the terrorists we will carry on our lives as normal, but if you try to drive to an airport today it just isn’t normal. Every extra inconvenience for the travelling public is a small victory for the terrorists. As recent events have shown, intelligence and vigilance will keep us safe. No amount of physical checks and barriers can do so, given the complexities of modern life in a society of 60 million people.
John Redwood has been the Member of Parliament for Wokingham since 1987. First attending Kent College, Canterbury, he graduated from Magdalen College...
