News up on Insite Law Jacqui Smith: The departure of one of the worst Home Secretaries in history Billed as the youngest Home Secretary in our history, tipped as a future Prime Minister, Jacqui Smith leaves the Home Office less fit for purpose than it was when she arrived. I am not talking of minutiae and administration but in terms of reputation. Leaving aside her own poor judgement in terms of expenses claims, and the questionable, if amusing, taste of her husband when it came to private amusement with a video, Jacqui Smith seemed to be in thrall to Number 10 and presided over a number of civil liberties disasters. Pushing through the re-classification of Cannabis, against the advice of her own team, pushing for an extension of detention without trial to 42 days (thankfully booted into touch by objections in the Lords, failing to come to grips with Policing, a relationship with the Police federation in terms of pay and Police appointments and, perhaps, most serious of all, her involvement in the Damien Green Affair. While denying she called in PC Plod it became clear that she was the source of concerns about National Security – later shown to be preposterous by the DPP Kyle Starmer QC – revealing her as a person unfit to hold one of the most important offices of State. She is unlikely to be missed by civil libertarians. The incoming Home Secretary could possibly go down in the record books as being one of the shortest holders of the office. *** BREAKING NEWS: “Sources say Smith is stepping down for the sake of her husband, who has been watching so much porn he is on the verge of being declared medically blind.” Newsarse

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3rd June: News up on Insite Law

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