Charles Clarke - His lies, Damm Lies and the Statistics
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As BackingBlair suggest, this does look like an obituary in waiting.
People are finally waking up to the fact that the unsafe elephant has been lying through his back teeth about the extent of the problem. I have yet to watch PMQ, but I heard some of Charlie's attempt to justify his position in the commons on the radio afterwards. I don't know about anyone else, but I am no clearer about what happened, how it happened or why it happened. And judging by the reaction he got, neither is anyone else.
If this really is the best explanation they has to offer, for a problem that the Home Office has been working on for 9 or 10 months, then he really is on his way out.
We should repeat, that since Charles assured us that the Home Office was on top of the problem - it has got worse, not better.
Just under one third of the cases cited happened since August last year, AFTER Charlie's staff got on the case. The approximate rate of cases for deportation that should have been considered but were missed went up, from a couple a week, to more than one a day ON HIS WATCH.
The number of missed cases didn't simply continue, it INCREASED after Charlie got on the case. His intervention made the problem worse, not better. That's neither a historical, or a systemic problem.
Clarke's letter to the PAC
Clarke's letter to the PAC specifically refers to "prisoners who were identified as foreign nationals and who were referred to the Immigration and Nationality Directorate (IND) by the Prison Service."
Which seems to me to make it fairly clear that the Prison Service DID know about them, and DID tell IND they were getting out. It seems rational to infer that IND did nothing meaningful with this data.
Why? Last autumn the immigration officers union said that IND didn't have the resources to man border exit controls AND pursue Blair's target of removing more failed asylum seekers than there are new ones arriving. No doubt there are lots of other things they can't resource while they're busy trying to keep egg off Mr Tony's face, and that spike of 288 from August 2005 to March 2006 covers the period when they'd have been trying hardest to do this. Blair's fault again, I reckon.
Deportation Island: New
Deportation Island: New Reality TV Show in the United Kingdom
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Prime Minister Tony Blair announced today his cabinet would be launching a new reality television show. The reality TV show entitled “Deportation Island” will mark the Prime Minister’s directorial debut and represents a direct public relations offensive to combat sliding approval ratings. A poll conducted by The Telegraph places the Prime Minister’s personal approval rating at just 36%. Executive producers of “Deportation Island” include Home Secretary Charles Clarke and Lord Levy. For more on story click on The Dark One link...
Click for Amnesty
Click for Amnesty Unintentional
I wonder if it is time to
I wonder if it is time to consider who the Elephant's replacement might be. Anyone got any ideas? Surely not Hazel Blears.
Gosh, what a gift it it would be
Gosh, what a gift it it would be though. She was being touted for Cabinet rank a few months ago, which goes to show how far gone round the bend Blair is these days. Without exception the entire Home Office ministerial team are complete morons and I can't imagine any of them ascending straight to the top job.
Who's the Cabinet's safe pair of hands these days? Can't be a Brownite, of course, which rules out Darling. Reid is a possible, replacing one former Communist bully-boy with another is obviously attractive. Hoon is too big a nonentity, not that that stopped Alan Johnson. Peter Hain is just too, well, liberal. Apart from that it's either people like Beckett, Prescott or Benn who are just too Old Labour or people no one's heard of like Hutton or Johnson, which leaves only Ruth Kelly. I'm inclined to think that David Davis would mince anyone below Reid's calibre, however.
What's the bookies' verdict?
Jug Ears should be given an
Jug Ears should be given an Elephant enema by the Downing street Enema Bandit.
He´s full of shit.Infact all of Labour are full of shit.Wait a minute all politicians are full of it.
Enemas for all of them.
Bring on the HP Enema Bandit!!!
Just noticed this quote in
Just noticed this quote in the Grauniad report on Wednesday's cabinet meeting:
"Mr Blair spoke up in support of the home secretary, saying that the problem was identified "because there were proper systems put in place in 1999 and followed through by a new management team last year," said his spokesman."
I'm struggling to get my head round the logic of that.
I just read on Guido's blog
I just read on Guido's blog that Charles Clarke is toast and will resign very soon. Tomorrow at Reading Crown Court, Kosovan illegal immigrant Indrit Krasniqi, one of the 1,023 criminals allowed to roam free in Britain will be jailed for life for murder and kidnap.
He's removed it now - that
He's removed it now - that chap lived about half a mile from me, so I've been following the case.