Tag Archives: john reid

Brian Paddick

Brian Paddick writes… Chairman Mao might have backed Labour’s ID card plans, but Lib Dems won’t

By Brian Paddick | Thu 26th November 2015 - 6:43 pm

In the House of Lords today, Labour tried to resurrect the National Identity Card scheme with some support from the Conservative benches. The Government Home Office minister countered that it was too expensive and ineffective in that those we would most want to carry an ID card are the least likely to carry them.

Liberal Democrats object to the compulsory carrying of identity cards on principle, as an infringement of the liberty and the right to privacy of those lawfully going about their business but there are other reasons why a national identity scheme should remain dead and buried.

Not one of the tragic deaths or horrific injuries inflicted by terrorists in recent times in the UK could have been prevented had a national identity card scheme been in place.  The identities of the bombers and would-be bombers of the London transport system in 2005 were quickly established. The identities of the murderers of Lee Rigby were never an issue.

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged , , and | 6 Comments
Mark Pack

Charles Kennedy: I’ve learned to love the coalition

By Mark Pack | Thu 21st April 2011 - 7:54 am

In a piece for Prospect magazine, published today, former Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy gives his backing to the coalition government. Though Kennedy didn’t vote in favour of the coalition last May, abstaining instead, he now backs it:

I admit that this coalition wasn’t exactly my preferred option. I’ve always considered myself in the reforming, centre-left tradition, so a centre-right arrangement puts my compass in a spin … But those of us who genuinely wanted to explore other routes—from a rainbow coalition to a minority tory administration— were sunk when figures like David Blunkett and John Reid were so against

…

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Posted in News | Also tagged , and | 41 Comments
Mark Pack

Dear John Reid…

By Mark Pack | Fri 26th November 2010 - 5:02 pm

Dear John Reid,

Is the electoral system you decry as being “unfair” in today’s Telegraph by any chance the same voting system as the one that Labour uses to election its own party leader?

I only ask because they are both called the Alternative Vote and I haven’t noticed you complaining about Ed Miliband’s election as leader being unfair or therefore calling for your colleagues to oust him.

By the way, a little tip about Fiji, which I notice you and colleagues have become keen on quoting. It’s a military dictatorship and, you know, if you go round citing its dislike of the …

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Posted in News | Also tagged and | 75 Comments
Stephen Tall

John Hutton was right: Gordon has been ‘a fucking disaster’. But who else was there?

By Stephen Tall | Wed 23rd December 2009 - 10:50 pm

At long last, what was widely known in Westminster Village circles has rippled out beyond: John Hutton was the cabinet minister who told the BBC’s political editor Nick Robinson in 2006 that Gordon Brown would be ‘a fucking disaster’ in the role of prime minister. Well done to BBC Radio 4’s Eddie Mair for wringing the admission from a reluctant Mr Hutton.

But it prompts two questions.

First, if this was Mr Hutton’s view – albeit one from which he has subsequently resiled, in public at any rate – why did he choose to become one of the 308 Labour …

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged , , , , and | 2 Comments
Mark Pack

Should we be worried that MI5 think John Reid is still Home Secretary?

By Mark Pack | Wed 25th March 2009 - 1:20 pm

Take a look here. Let’s hope they’ve noticed a few other things have changed. Like we’re not at war with Germany. And we no longer rule India.

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