John Reid
John Reid has had a dreadful few weeks and most people, excepting probably Charles Clarke and Gordon Brown will be feeling sorry for him on a human level.
That said the latest horror from his department seems like total administative bungling.The chaos in the prison system has long been predicted and Labour has failed to take any of the measures needed to tackle this.Mental therapy provision for some people who are detained and also more prison building to remedy the awful overcrowding that exists should have been provided for and John Reid must take his share of the blame for that.However, the farce of not taking passports away from convicted drug dealers seems like pure incompetence and little or nothing to do with resources.
Few Home Secretaries become Prime Minister, Jim Callaghan was an exception to that rule but it doesn’t look as though John Reid will be.Before Callaghan one has to go back to Churchill who was Home Secretary in 1910 and Asquith who was Home Secretary from 1892 to 1895. Chancellors (Major, Callaghan, Macmillan, Chamberlain, LLoyd-George, Asquith ) and Foreign Secretaries ( Major, Callaghan, Macmillan, Eden and with Home and Balfour going on to become Foreign Secretary after their premierships) fare better.
It has been a good week for Gordon Brown, after Jade Goody he was owed it!
