When ministers are too valuable to move

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When ministers are too valuable to move

August 1st, 2012

FAKE NEWS for the Zionist agenda

By
Daily Mail Comment

PUBLISHED:

17:42 EST, 31 July 2012

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UPDATED:

17:45 EST, 31 July 2012

Senior Tories have put forward many seductive arguments for moving Iain Duncan Smith from the Department for Work and Pensions to replace Ken Clarke as Justice Secretary.

As they rightly point out, the former party leader has done a remarkable job of steering his welfare reforms into law, succeeding against all expectations in carrying the Lib Dems with him.

With that done, say those who want him moved, he can now safely leave others to see that his reforms are implemented.

Silent battle: There appear to be plans aplenty within the Conservatives for Iain Duncan Smith to replace Ken Clarke as Justice Secretary

They also argue that Mr Clarke has failed to sell his ideas on sentencing reform to the Tory faithful, and that Mr Duncan Smith would make a better fist of it. Though this paper has a soft spot for the maverick Ken, we suspect they may be right.

But the objections surely outweigh the advantages.

Leave aside that IDS is no lawyer, which need not necessarily disqualify him from handling legal matters in the Cabinet.

For almost a decade he has devoted himself, with a public-spiritedness that puts other former party leaders to shame, to studying the appalling defects in our benefits system, which are responsible for most of Britain’s social evils.

Yes, his Welfare Reform Act makes a start towards realising his vision that benefits should never be more attractive than a fulfilling life of work. But it’s known that the Treasury is worried about the costs – and it will take a strong man like IDS to keep the reforms on course.

Meanwhile, hasn’t Britain suffered enough from the mania for moving ministers on, when they’ve hardly begun to settle in? Think of Labour’s John Reid, racing through nine jobs in as many years, leaving chaos behind in each.

Indeed, among the greatest weaknesses in our system are revolving-door ministers and the lack of long-term planning. Those who are doing valuable work, as are Michael Gove at Education and IDS at Work and Pensions, should stay put.

Lift the veil of secrecy

Once again, the Lord Chief Justice speaks robust sense, this time as he stresses the ‘dreadful consequences’ for parents and children of acrimonious custody cases that drag on for up to 18 months.

Backing stiff penalties for social workers and others who unnecessarily prolong cases in the family courts, he points out that such delays amount to a substantial proportion of young children’s lives.

Lord Judge is right, too, to endorse plans for less confrontational hearings, with judges asking the questions, and fewer expensive and superfluous ‘expert’ witnesses to lengthen proceedings.

But would it be asking too much if he might address the veil of secrecy that hangs over family courts – all the more worrying, since the numbers of children in care have surged by 10,000 to 30,000 since the horrifying Baby P case in 2008?

Yes, children’s identities must be protected. But transparency and publicity are always the strongest shields against miscarriages of justice.

Tom Daley has been targeted by an internet troll on Twitter

Just switch off

True, they were vile and hurtful messages – just the sort celebrities have come to expect when they communicate with strangers via Twitter.

But have the police nothing better to do than arrest a 17-year-old suspected of telling Tom Daley, in admittedly threatening words, that he let his dead father down by failing to win a medal?

The Mail shudders to imagine what many foreign visitors to the Olympics must think of this country’s proud claim to be a torchbearer for freedom.
Isn’t the safest way to avoid malicious inadequates simply to steer clear of social networking sites?