Fooled Again?

Al-Jahom, on his excellent blog, has spotted that the Conservative James Brokenshire (pictured) seems to be making progress in the party hierarchy. Today he was wheeled out as spokesman on Home Affairs.

James Brokenshire, a Conservative home affairs spokesman who received the figures under freedom of information laws, said: “Knife crime is a scourge which claims too many lives and ruins countless others.

Yet under Labour it has soared. The Government’s only response is short-term, ad hoc police operations, the results of which they spin and manipulate anyway to try to get a good story.”

I make him right. Knee-jerk policy just doesn't cut it.

But is this the same James Brokenshire who was advocating short-term, ad hoc, and totally unnecessary, responses to combat binge-drinking? Which largely involved punishing the law-abiding for the excesses of just a few trouble-makers? I think it is you know.

"... the social and health costs linked to binge drinking mean that we just can’t ignore the pricing and promotion of alcohol. Drink being sold as a ‘loss leader’ at prices virtually cheaper than water isn’t right and it isn’t responsible. That’s why we would legislate to ban below-costs sales and target alcohol duty on those products most closely linked to binge boozing.

But we’ve also got to challenge attitudes on excessive alcohol consumption. We would encourage locally-based programmes which combine education with enforcement, prevention with punishment."

Note the words "ban", "enforcement" and "punishment", without any nod to the fact that laws already exist to deal with the exaggerated binge-drinking problem. All the Tories have to do is make sure these laws are enforced more rigorously. Not collectively punish all of us, like schoolkids, for the actions of a small minority.

Nanny is alive and well in the Conservatives, and has just been promoted, it would seem.

If they are all like Brokenshire, changing the Government could just prove to us that The Who were on the right lines.

Meet the new boss
Same as the old boss