JOHN REID, HEAD OF THE GESTAPO

The news that broke yesterday concerning the Home Office plans to increase police stop and search powers has caused the final days of Blair’s rule to spiral into disarray. Never really to happy with the Terrorism Act 2000 (TACT) Peter Hain, Northern Ireland Secretary and deputy leader candidate, has come out against the idea, calling it

“the domestic equivalent of Guantanamo Bay”

Also entering into the fray is Hazel Blears, another deputy candidate. In a clear dig at Mr Hain and his department she claimed that the stop and search changes had emerged from his department

“What I understand is that the request has come from the Northern Ireland Office because they want to be able to carry on using them, they find them useful”.

To say that Northern Ireland wishes both to keep and increase his anti terrorist powers is a strange idea. Ireland has enjoyed a period of unprecedented peace over the last seven years; in fact more bombs have gone of on mainland Britain than our overseas neighbour. Perhaps Ms Blears attitude could have more to do with her poor showings in the leadership polls and her closeness to John Reid, a man who should be stopped and searched for his commonsense which appears to have been stolen. Despite the fact that he has announced his resignation from the Home Office, he seems hell bent on leaving a divided Labour Party in his wake. Showing a lack of moral fibre in his decision not to stand against Gordon Brown, he has clearly decided on a “scorched earth” policy for Brown’s usurpation.

For some reason there has developed an element within the Labour Party who have no regard for civil liberties. The threat of a pending but unproven terrorist war within our own domestic borders is being used as a lever to slowly erode personal freedom. The very real scenario will exist that you could under Reid’s rules be arrested for going to the shops for a pint of milk, and that is not an exaggeration. The core element of the new proposal would allow police to “to stop people and ask their names, addresses and movements” regardless of suspicion of crime intended or committed. Failure to answer will mean arrest and/or fine. I have said this before but it’s worth repeating; how can we lecture the likes of Mugabe on his policing policies when our own are slowly matching his.