Britain’s intelligence services raised the threat level of a terrorist attack from ’substantial’ to ’severe’ last week, meaning an attack was considered to be ‘highly likely’ – despite the Home Secretary saying that there was ‘no intelligence’ to suggest that an attack was imminent! Who to believe? The Joint Intelligence Service or the Home Secretary? Is...

Home secretary plans national launch of powers enabling parents to check whether child carers are convicted sex offendersThe Conservatives today backed plans by the home secretary, Alan Johnson, for a national roll-out of powers allowing parents to check whether those who regularly care for their children are convicted sex offenders.The decision followed a pilot scheme in four police areas – Cambridgeshire, Hampshire, Cleveland and Warwickshire – which gave parents and carers controlled access to the sex offenders register.At least one police force, Avon and Somerset, refused to take part in the pilot.The decision was announced by Johnson in the News of the World, which has campaigned for what it calls "Sarah's law" – the publication of the names and addresses of convicted sex...

Lib Dem shadow home secretary Chris Huhne today tackled Alan Johnson on his decision not to block the extradition of computer hacker Gary McKinnon, who has Asperger’s, to the USA. (LDV has previously covered the story here). Their exchange in the Commons today is recorded below, and you can read the whole Hansard debate here: Chris Huhne (Eastleigh) (LD): The Home Secretary is, in my view, a very brave man to hold out his judgment of the medical condition—and of the worsening of the medical condition—of Gary McKinnon against such overwhelming evidence as we have heard from the hon. Member for Enfield, Southgate (Mr. Burrowes). Gary McKinnon is a vulnerable British citizen who has become more vulnerable and whose interests are being ignored in favour of an unequal treaty with the...

Lib Dem shadow home secretary Chris Huhne has slammed the decision of Labour’s Alan Johnson to refuse to block the extradition of Gary McKinnon – the self-confessed computer hacker with Asperger’s – to the US on medical grounds. It is appalling that this Government places a higher value on a deeply unfair extradition agreement than it does on the welfare of a British citizen. Alan Johnson has shamefully turned down the opportunity to demonstrate his faith in British justice and save a vulnerable man from a lifetime in prison or worse. “The Home Secretary must now step in and ensure that this sorry saga is ended once and for all by trying Gary McKinnon in this country. The Home Secretary should stop being an American poodle and start being a British bulldog.”...

THE former Mayor of Redditch is set to stand against former Home Secretary Jacqui Smith at the next general election.Anne Davis, who served on Redditch Borough Council for 12 years, will stand for the United Kingdom Independence Party in the election after defecting from Labour.Anne who used to sit on the same committees as Jacqui said: “Over the years, I’ve come to the conclusion that the...

On Monday, Helen brought you news from the Guardian of the dispute between Liberal Democrat MP Dr Evan Harris and Home Secretary Alan Johnson. Over the last two days, Dr Harris’s blog has been unmissable as he has been posting details of the correspondence on his blog, along with the consequences. A fisking of Alan Johnson’s speech in Parliament I was amazed to hear what the Home Secretary said, under privilege, in parliament about a distinguished scientist and sent Alan Johnson the letter below demanding a retraction and apology. A fisking of Alan Johnson’s reply The Home Secretary has now responded to my letter. It is set out below, interwoven with my original letter, and accompanied by comments from me, after consultation with Professor Nutt and Richard Garside...

Earlier today Home Secretary asked the Government’s chief drugs advisor, Professor David Nutt, to resign. The government line is that he was “asked” to resign but, outside the world of pedantic spin doctors who watch too much of The Thick of It, being “asked” to resign is the same as being sacked. But what’s more concerning is the reason for him being removed. The Home Secretary has said the reason for sacking him  is that, “I cannot have public confusion between scientific advice and policy”. But David Nutt isn’t being accused of getting evidence wrong (even though some of it gets into highly controversial areas) or of dressing up his own views as really being government policy. What the Home Secretary has objected is not the quality...

Some positive news today in the fight for justice for Gary McKinnon, the Asperger’s sufferer and alleged computer hacker who is facing extradition to the USA, a fate which it is believed could jeopardise his health: The Home Secretary confirmed today that he had “stopped the clock” on proceedings to extradite the British alleged hacker Gary McKinnon to the United States. Alan Johnson told MPs that he was examining new medical evidence in the case, and would allow Mr McKinnon’s lawyers more time to consider medical reports and make legal representations. Mr McKinnon, from North London, is wanted by US prosecutors for what they have called the “biggest military computer hack of all time”. They claim that he hacked into 97 military computers and caused £487,000...

If we have to have a Cameron government, then I would much prefer an Iain Dale or a Dominic Grieve as Home Secretary than Chris Grayling. (All are, naturally, a disappointment compared to Home Secretary Huhne under PM Clegg!) Yet I fear Iain’s chances of getting the job are only slightly worse than Dominic Grieve’s (as the Murdoch press is rumoured to have insisted Grieve was moved from his shadow Home Office role). Writing about his visit to the Arts Alliance Music in Prisons fringe at the Tory conference, Dale notes that politicians are tough on crime when they reduce re-offending, not when they generate red-top headlines: Being tough doesn’t just mean locking people up and throwing away the key. A tough politician will take tough choices – and that means...

Policy of using virtual house arrest under fire once more as home secretary refuses to reveal 'secret' evidence against imamThe government's controversial regime of using virtual house arrest against terror suspects has suffered a fresh blow with a decision by the home secretary, Alan Johnson, to revoke a second control order rather than disclose the "secret" evidence in the case.Johnson has written to the lawyers of a former imam to the Iraqi community in Britain, known for legal reasons only as AE, telling them that he made the decision after considering the impact of a law lords ruling in June that he was obliged to disclose the detail of the allegations against him.In previous high court rulings involving AE, the judges have said that he was an imam to the Iraqi community in an...

• Home secretary forced to act after law lords ruling• Department could face number of similar casesA terror suspect confined to virtual house arrest for three years under a control order has been freed by the home secretary, as the government's use of secret evidence continues to unravel in the wake of a law lords ruling.The man – of dual Libyan and British nationality and known only as AF – was released last week from an order electronically tagging him and keeping him under a 14 hour curfew, according to his Manchester-based solicitors, Middleweeks.He was one of three terror suspects to benefit from a landmark law lords ruling in June which found it was unlawful to use "secret evidence" to place people under a regime including a 16-hour curfew.The unanimous ruling by a panel of...

You are a prime minister under pressure. What do you do? Give your most attractive rival a job which ensure that everyone will soon hate him.Since becoming home secretary, Alan Johnson has become the most prominent public defender of identity cards and of the extradition of Gary McKinnon. You may say that in both cases Johnson could have fought to be allowed to take a different line if he wanted to, but it does underline what a thankless job being home secretary is.By appointing Johnson to the post, Gordon Brown has ensured that the more libertarian elements amongst Labour voters and (just as important to the prime minister) amongst Labour MPs are rapidly going off him. Johnson now looks far less like the man to recapture this important constituency for Labour at the next election.You may...

Minister unveils 'no-brainer' ID card - Scotsman.com News THE decision to introduce ID cards is a "no-brainer", Home Secretary Alan Johnson said yesterday as he unveiled the card's design. No-brainer? No brain, no thought, no intelligence, just plain stupid; it is hard to argue with Pat on...

A couple of weeks ago, I interviewed former Home Secretary Jacqui Smith for TOTAL POLITICS. The interview seems to have created quite a stir in the media over the last 24 hours. Here are a couple of excerpts...On being up to the job...Do you think it's a weakness of our political system that there is no kind of career path planning at all and that people are plonked into jobs, sometimes for absolutely no reason?Yes, if I ever describe the process of becoming a minister - moving from one ministerial job to another - to somebody in almost any other job outside they think it is, frankly, pretty dysfunctional in the way that it works. That's not just this government... To be fair, Gordon had talked to me about whether or not I wanted to do a different job but you have to get to a pretty...

Yesterday’s LDV highlighted an article by Lib Dem peer Lord (Alex) Carlile, urging that alleged computer hacker Gary McKinnon not be extradited to the USA to face charges – it is feared Mr McKinnon’s health could significantly deteriorate as a result of his Asperger’s condition. Lib Dem MP Simon Hughes used the opportunity of topical questions to the Home Secretary yesterday to ask Alan Johnson direct if he would intervene to prevent Mr McKinnon’s extradition. Simon Hughes (North Southwark and Bermondsey) (LD): Will the Home Secretary act now to deal with growing anger in my constituency and around the country about the plans to extradite Mr. Gary McKinnon to the United States? Mr. McKinnon has no previous convictions and suffers from Asperger’s syndrome....

Apparently new Home Secretary Alan Johnson is an ‘instinctive’ supporter of ID cards. Strange then to give the impression he’s walking away from them: A compulsory identity card trial for pilots and 30,000 other airport workers due to start in September has been abandoned by the new home secretary, Alan Johnson. But he intends to accelerate other elements of the scheme including plans to issue £30 voluntary ID cards to young adults across north-west England. Johnson is also looking at making ID cards free for over-75s. Longer-term plans to make ID cards compulsory for critical workers at rail stations have also been dropped. British citizens would not be forced to carry ID cards, insisted the home secretary. Johnson said: “Holding an identity card should be a...

And I resisted the temptation to put "+++" on the title, you'll notice.Yes, Brown is staggering blithely on. I am surprised that Darling is staying as Chancellor after the various nods and winks of the last week. It is great that Brown finally found someone to be Home Secretary and Alan Johnson will make a good one. I've always thought John Denham is a reasonably sound chap - but he fulfils the main criteria needed for a minister at the moment - he is one of the dwindling band of Brown...

James Purnell is a talented, personable, charismatic and eloquent Blairite - the sort of star the untalented. unpersonable, uncharismatic an ineloquent Gordon Brown cannot really afford to have on the back benches. His departure from the Cabinet is a huge blow to the Prime Minister, and a very big nail in what must be now an utterly unavoidable coffin.The Work and Pensions Secretary said that he wanted the Prime Minister to resign in order to give the Labour Party a 'fighting chance of winning'.The message is stark: we are no longer in the realm of veiled threats or coded plots: Gordon Brown will cost Labour the next election, and for the good of the party and the nation, he must go.Mr Purnell said in his resignation letter: 'We both love the Labour Party. I have worked for it for 20...

Pulling together various reports, it seems that John Reid and David Blunkett have turned down roles in Gordon Brown's government. These reports came from the Independent (amongst other) and a "senior Labour source".There's also a loose rumour that John Reid, perhaps performing the role of the men in grey suits single-handedly, told Brown to resign after refusing to join his government as Home Secretary.(Number Ten say Reid and Brown talked about football. So there's a crisis engulfing Brown and he is spending his time chatting about football and ringing up Simon Cowell to ask how Susan Boyle is - great.)Thirdly, there is a rumour via Sky News (who don't have the highest credibility at the moment admittedly but it was also reported widely including in the Telegraph) that Alastair Darling...

Reports earlier today said that Gordon Brown offered John Reid the job of Home Secretary in a secret meeting last night in Downing Street. What the media haven't reported is that not only did John Reid turn the job down, he told the Prime Minister he should resign. I am told that this is how the conversation went.Brown: Will you be my Home Secretary?Reid: NoBrown: You have to support me.Reid: No I don't. I have to support my country and my party, and that means you have to stand down.I don't know what Brown's reaction was, but I think we can all...

As an April Fool, I wrote a post entitled “EXCLUSIVE: Jacqui Smith resigns as Home Secretary“, saying: Jacqui Smith has resigned as Home Secretary, after admitting that she couldn’t she “just couldn’t hack it” after being caught fiddling the Parliamentary expenses system… She has also announced that she will be standing down as MP for Redditch at the next election, as she can’t cope with the shame. And now it has actually come true! Well, apart from the resigning as an MP bit, but she’ll get voted out anyway so she doesn’t need to. However, why has her departure been announced now, just two days before a major election? Either it’s a ploy by Smith’s people in order to save her the embarrasment of being fired (or be seen to be fired) by...

"If this is true, it will be a sad day and we will miss her. She has been a very good home secretary. . . .It's a difficult job – you need the patience of a secular saint."Keith Vaz on Jacqui Smith resigning as Home Secretary. 'P.C.' to the end, notice Vaz's reference to the patience of a 'secular...

I have written many times about honour in politics. There was a time if you were caught committing some sort of impropriety, you did the honourable thing and resigned. Today, Jacqui Smith announced her resignation as Home Secretary. If she had done this a couple of months ago, I would have commended her. All I can say today is, it's about time. I am sure she is a perfectly amiable woman. Sky News was reporting earlier she has local support and many of her constituents regard her as a hard working MP. All of this may be true. The problem for Smith is that she is woefully out of her depth as Home Secretary. She was catapulted to one of the Great Offices of State without any experience of running a government department. John Reid described the Home Office as 'not fit for purpose.' Brown...

Jacqui Smith is expected to stand down as home secretary in a reshuffle this week, the BBC has been...

So the appalling Home Secretary is about to leave? Home Secretary Jacqui Smith is to leave the Cabinet in the wake of the scandal over MPs’ expenses, according to Sky sources. There is no indication yet that Ms Smith will also step down as an MP. Sky’s political correspondent Joey Jones said: “I have had it from impeccable sources that she has entered into that agreement with the Prime Minister.” “There will be results on Friday from the local elections and results on Sunday from the European elections and these will probably be very bad for the Prime Minister. “I fully expect that on Monday morning he will be calling people in to speak to them, to try and reshuffle the Cabinet, the entire government, to try and change things and move forward.”...

Just yesterday there were reports that Gordon Brown is planning to sack Home Secretary Jacqui Smith. Well, today she’s still Home Secretary, but I wonder, for how long: The property on which she has claimed thousands of pounds in second homes allowance is actually her primary residence for tax purposes, it was revealed. The Home Secretary has pocketed £84,000 of taxpayers’ money on the home she shares with her husband, Richard Timney, and their two children in Redditch, her West Midlands constituency. That was only possible because she persuaded the House of Commons authorities that her main home is actually her sister’s spare bedroom in London, where she lodges during the week. But after a freedom of information request, Redditch council has confirmed that Miss Smith...

As you know I'm very uncomfortable with the Government banning people from this country simply because of their views. But I'll make an exception for Michael Savage. Why? Because he's too fucking stupid to even know what country he is banned from.He told his radio audience that he was intending to sue British Home Secretary Jacqui Smith, who he described as the "lunatic ... Home Secretary of England". Wrong. He wrote: "What does that say about the government of England? It says more about them than it says about me."Wrong again! Until he learns his geography and rudimentary international politics I think America should ban him from travelling as he might easily get lost. Remember... the Government of this country is the British Government. President Obama is not the "President of...

British Home Secretary, Jacqui Smith has made public the names of 16 people who have been denied the right to enter the U.K. The Home Secretary said that entry to Britain was a privilege. However, we had certain standards of behaviour we regarded as acceptable and individuals who it was thought did not conform to those standards would not be allowed in to the country. Those who by their attitude or opinions expressed might in the Home Secretary’s view be likely to foment hatred and/or provoke inter-community violence would not be deemed an appropriate person to enter the UK. The names of the 16 people barred from entering the U.K. can be viewed here . . ....

Via DK, I see our Home Secretary is doing her clenched-teeth best to stand behind the Gorgon:"Home Secretary Jacqui Smith has become the latest cabinet minister to come to Gordon Brown's defence, amid continuing speculation about his leadership.She said he was "right" for the country..."Nothing bugs me more than these sort of inane comments. We are supposed to live in a democracy - therefore...

Political Betting has a blog post that links to another source that suggests Brown is to have a reshuffle on June the 12th and move Jacqui Smith do Education and move Ed Balls to the job of home Secretary and I think I can sum up my opinion to this whole rumour by saying 'Good'!Jacqui Smith has been using the tax payer to fund her husbands dirty hobbies and personally I think its dirty politics like this that destroys the image of the whole of politics. Balls isn't all he is scratched up to be but Brown needs to keep his friends close but his enemies closer and Balls is potential enemy material.When Brown loses the next general election he will have to resign as leader of the Labour party in this scenario Labour will need a new leader. Brown knows Smith or Harman are not leadership...