Delusion, despair and the re-writing of history

Question: who said the following about which administration?

"...the greatest advances in civil liberties of any post-war government..."

Any guesses?

The answer is almost too unbelievable to be true...

The above quote is taken from former Home Secretary and retiring Blackburn MP, Jack Straw's endorsement of David Milliband yesterday (full text available here). It refers, incredibly, to the government of which both he and the Labour leadership contender were members.

That's right readers; the government which:

• Introduced, then fought the ECHR for, the indefinite retention of innocent DNA profiles
• Introduced the Identity Card and National Identity Register
• Tried and failed to increase the length of detention without charge to 90, then 42 days
• Introduced the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act, to allow bureaucrats, councils and quangos to spy on people
• Empowered the police to conduct random stop and searches under Section 44 of the Terrorism Act
• Introduced authoritarian programmes such as control orders, the intercept modernisation programme and the e-borders scheme
• Created a dizzying number of large and unstable state databases from ContactPoint to the Summary Care Record system

In fact, it was none-other than Jack Straw, who tried to remove the right to trial by jury during his time in the Home Office.

Those are some advances, Jack.

By Dylan Sharpe

For further analysis of Straw's speech and Labour's record, check out Full Fact's article here.

Comments

[Andrew Ampers Taylor]

The whole thing is a joke.

The only people who don't get it yet are people without a sense of humour. You know the types I am talking about. You just have to notice their pinched in eyes, their unattractiveness, their bitterness.

OK, there's sometimes an exception, but this is how I can usually tell people who veer to the left.

Every one of my right wing friends are cheerful and optimistic, the few socialist friends I have seem to be more miserable, and unhappy.

[Patrick]

It's ludicrous claim, as others have pointed out.

Full Fact.org already blogged on this yesterday

http://bit.ly/avpwpY

[Dylan Sharpe]

Thanks Patrick, I have linked to your excellent piece.

I was sent this by a supporter in Blackburn who could not believe his eyes!

[Bucko]

LOL. Jack Straw writes a column in our local paper. You should hear him bleating on about how terrible the governmnet "cuts" are.
The comments he gets makes for the best reading. People really rip into him and give him pain.
I dont know why he bothers writing the column or allowing comments. Everyone hates him. Makes me wonder how he got voted in again.

[Chris]

The present surveillance state (which he helped create) no doubt suits Straws well known Communist leanings

[Redacted]

It seems contradictory on the face of it. But if you view the Labour party as a straightforwardly "factional" organisation, you can see how it is possible to imagine that enhancing the civil liberties of THE people at the expense of THOSE people would be nothing to be ashamed of, at least in *his* mind.

[phatboy]

I wonder whether politicians actually believe what they say? Or maybe they really and honestly believe that they are all geniuses and we voters are virtually retarded and unable to see when they talk rubbish!

I have to take issue with you on RIPA though. I think I am right in saying that pre-RIPA there was little or no regulation on the use of surveillence outlined in RIPA. The RIPA powers are quite reasonable; however, the government made the mistake(?) they always make with legislation of assuming that it would always be used for the purposes they had in mind and that nobody would ever use it for anything else.

[Purlieu]

Jack Straw: the delusion is complete.
I'm sure his heart is in the right place, trouble is, his head isn't.